On 15 January 2025, the Administrative Jurisdiction Division of the Council of State made an important ruling in a dispute over adapted student transport in Rotterdam.
The case concerned a mother who had submitted an application to the Rotterdam municipal executive for adapted transport for her son to special primary education, but this application was initially rejected. The Council of State confirmed the court's earlier ruling, which means that the executive acted wrongly in rejecting the application.
The core of the case revolved around the question of whether the mother's son was entitled to adapted transport, such as taxi transport, because he was unable to use public transport independently or with assistance due to a mental and physical disability. The distance between the family's home and the school is 5,17 kilometres, and the mother stated that this journey was not feasible without adapted transport.
application and rejection
The Rotterdam board of mayor and aldermen rejected the application in September 2021, as well as the objection that the mother subsequently filed. According to the board, there was no situation in which the pupil, based on article 12 of the Rotterdam Pupil Transport Regulation 2015, would be entitled to adapted transport. The board found that the pupil could travel to school by public transport under supervision, despite the medical and psychological problems cited by the mother and experts.
The mother appealed this decision to the Rotterdam court. In April 2023, the court ruled that the board had not acted correctly and that the application for adapted transport had been wrongly rejected. The court based its decision on various medical statements, including a report from an educational psychologist and a psychologist, which showed that the son was unable to use public transport independently or with assistance due to an autism spectrum disorder, a mild intellectual disability and post-traumatic stress disorder. The court ordered the board to make a new decision and to take the ruling into account.
However, the council continued to maintain that not all conditions of the regulation had been met and appealed to the Council of State.
The Council of State ruled that the board had again made a mistake and that the decision to refuse adapted transport was unjustified. The highest administrative court based its decision on a medical opinion from August 2023, which explicitly concluded that the son was unable to use public transport even with supervision due to his limitations. It was also established that the son's problems were already present during the 2021-2022 school year and that there were structural travel restrictions. The board's argument that the restrictions would only have become relevant later was rejected by the Council of State.
The Council of State went further than the court by determining that the mother was entitled to compensation of €1.540 for travel expenses in the 2021-2022 school year. This compensation is based on the actual petrol costs incurred by the mother, as the board had not granted adapted transport at the time. The previous amount of €580, which the board had granted based on the costs of public transport, was considered insufficiently considered.
broader impact
This pronunciation not only has consequences for the family involved, but also provides a precedent for other parents who are struggling with similar situations. The Council of State emphasized that when assessing applications for adapted transportation, the medical and social circumstances of the pupil must be taken into account. The Rotterdam council is obliged to assess future applications more carefully and to take medical advice more seriously in the decision-making process.
The ruling also underlines the importance of clear communication and adequate support for parents in complex procedures surrounding student transport. The board was also ordered to pay the mother's legal costs, which were set at €1.312,50.
