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Municipalities are now introducing a special program for pupils who cannot go to school independently or who live far away.

Contrary to what many people think, municipalities are not at all obliged to take children to special education with minibuses. Transport is expensive and the municipality has the legal task of funding the cheapest possible transport. Some children can easily go to school in a different way and more and more municipalities are investigating the possibilities of encouraging children to become more independent so that they can travel to school themselves.

Not only are we looking at the possibilities of using public transport, but electric bicycles are also increasingly popular to make independence even more attractive. Meanwhile, Amersfoort and Oldenzaal, as pioneers in looking at other forms of transport together with the parents, are examples for many responsible parties within other municipalities.

funding

Since 1987, municipalities have been financially responsible for providing funding for student transport and receive resources for this from the municipal fund. Since then, it has had the statutory duty, albeit within criteria, to provide compensation for suitable transport to the nearest accessible school that is in line with the philosophy of life of the parents and/or the pupil. 

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Dennis Wiersma - Minister for Primary and Secondary Education - photo: Pitane Blue

Vulnerable children sometimes spend hours in a van on their way to and from school, leaving them overstimulated and tired in class.

Only recently, partly due to the negative publicity in the press, the attention in the House of Representatives and the advice of the responsible Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Dennis Wiersma, has the realization come that the order of possibilities is often ignored to take children to school in a tailor-made way.

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rely

Student transport in the Netherlands has been under pressure for too long due to major staff shortages in the taxi sector. Too many students were late for school and parents could no longer rely on the carriers, who in turn put the blame back on the municipalities in a number of cases. 

Parents are most often dissatisfied about the travel time, changing drivers, crowds in the van and the quality of the driver. Other issues are mentioned such as: changing routes, missing communication, vans that arrive too late, errors in the planning, problems with using a boarding stop and the lack of guidance in the minibus. 

DVDP

Looking for alternatives for the municipalities is not an easy job, but it will cost the taxi sector money, especially in target group transport. Tenders may look different in the future, and adapted transport is not so self-evident as taxi transport.

What constitutes suitable transport is not defined by law and must be investigated per student. The usual reimbursements are a bicycle kilometer allowance for the student and whether or not a supervisor, an allowance for the use of public transport for the student and whether or not a supervisor, an allowance for combined or adapted taxi transport and an allowance for the use of the own car of the parent/carer.

transport by bicycle

The municipality first checks whether the pupil can go to school by bicycle independently or possibly under supervision. The student may then be eligible for a bicycle allowance. If guidance is needed, the parent is responsible for it. If the municipality believes that guidance is necessary, a bicycle allowance will be paid for both the student and the supervisor.

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public transport

If the student cannot go to school by bicycle, the municipality will check whether the student can travel by public transport. Here too, if supervision is necessary, a reimbursement will also be paid for the costs of the journey by public transport of the supervisor.

adapted transport

In a number of cases, students cannot go to school by bicycle or public transport. Then the municipality arranges adapted transport. The student is then taken to school by taxi or van. The parent ensures that the child is ready on time when he or she is picked up and that someone is present at the pick-up point or at home when the child is returned.

own transport/transport allowance

If there is an entitlement to a transport facility, the Board can allow the parent(s) to transport the student themselves or have them transported. The transport costs will then be reimbursed by the municipality. This is subject to the condition that this is cheaper than the transport that can be provided on the basis of the Regulation (public transport or adapted transport), or that other transport facilities are not accessible or suitable. The latter means that these forms of transport cannot reasonably be expected of the student, in view of his disability. This must be substantiated by the parent(s) with objective data from experts.

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