Updated at 11.30am with Education Ministry statement

Just days from the start of a new academic year, independent and Church schools, as well as thousands of parents, are bracing themselves for what some expect to be “an unprecedented transport and traffic nightmare”.

Many schools were told by service providers they could not guarantee the service as in previous years and parents who have paid for private school transport for many years were informed there was no room for their children anymore because vans were already full-up, the Times of Malta has learnt.

In a letter to heads of school, Coop Services Ltd, one of the major service providers to independent and Church schools, pointed out that, following the introduction by the government of the free transport scheme, the demand for its services grew exponentially.

As a result, the company said, its logistics and human resources were “stretched to the very limit” and, therefore, it “cannot guarantee that Coop will be in a position to service all new routes as we had managed to do in previous years”.

“Furthermore, in view of the extra distance in most routes to service a vast amount of new students who chose to avail themselves of the free transport scheme, we must inform you there is the strong possibility that a certain degree of delay, especially in the afternoon pickup, may be experienced,” the service provider informed schools.

Practically all other private service providers passed on the same message to schools verbally, transport operators said.

When the proposal for the State funding of transport for non-State schools was made by the two main political parties before the last election, service providers had immediately warned there were not enough vehicles to handle the new workload.

Making promises and political stunts is one thing, making them work in practice is another

“Making promises and political stunts is one thing, making them work in practice is another,” one service provider said.

“We have warned the government to plan much ahead for this. As usual, they did not. Now we will suffer the consequences. Next week, we expect a nightmare not only for us but for the traffic situation across the country,” he said.

Another service provider commented: “To make matters worse, the island’s road network is heavily disrupted, also thanks to bad planning, which will probably make certain areas of the island a complete gridlock.”

Frustrated heads of independent and Church schools told the Times of Malta they were inundated with complaints by parents saying there was no room for their children on school vans.

“The problem is we cannot help them because we don’t even know what is happening. The Education Ministry did not even bother to organise meetings to inform us how the whole thing will work. We are directing complaining parents to the Education Department,” the headmistress of a Church school said.

A headmaster acknowledged that free transport scheme was good because, in the long run, it should have a positive impact on traffic. However, it was badly planned and the government’s announcement was made too late in the day, he said.

“We should have first ensured there are enough vehicles to cope and then launch the scheme,” he remarked.

“Regrettably, the government did the other way round.”

When contacted, an Education Ministry spokesman conceded there were problems but said the scheme would be introduced gradually and “transport providers have adequate time to invest in more vehicles and drivers”.

The spokesman offered no solution when asked what would happen to students who did not find space on school vans.

He only said “the ministry is providing support through an internal exercise where non-State sector routes are being reviewed to try to maximise capacity as much as possible”.

A White Paper published by the government earlier this year estimated that up to 10,000 students in private and Church schools would make use of communal transport.

'We are doing our best to help parents' - ministry

The Education Ministry in a statement on Thursday explained that it was never responsible for transport for students in church and independent schools.  Nonetheless, it was working to ensure that as many parents as possible had their problems solved.  

It has launched a website (schooltransport.edu.mt) featuring information for parents and transport operators. A total of 887 parents in church schools and 95 in independent schools have written to the site so far informing the ministry of their situation.

The number of operators registered by the ministry to provide school transport has now risen to 57, compared to 18 when the original deal was signed for the provision of free transport. Other operators wishing to sign up should contact www.schooltransport.edu.mt .

With regard to transport for state school students, the ministry said the number of students using the service is this year increasing by 1,500 to 12,500. Some 14,000 parents have been notified of routes and pick-up times.

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