1/2 Indy hopes the buses will continue to run to her school in Andel.
Not an hour on the bus to get to school, but an hour and a half or even longer. That threatens Indy and Line from Oosterhout and hundreds of other students, now that the province wants to scrap the student bus lines to pre-vocational secondary school Curio Prinsentuin in Andel. More than two thirds of the students live at a considerable distance from the school and depend on the buses that drive to and from the school. Reason for a day of action.
From 2025, the province of North Brabant will introduce a new transport concession for public transport. It states, among other things, that the special student lines will be scrapped. A big problem for the school. Pupils, teachers and parents therefore took the bus to Rucphen on Wednesday morning to convince deputy Suzanne Otters that she was wrong. The activists were armed with a petition which has been signed more than 2700 times.
If the students have to use regular buses from now on, it will be virtually impossible for two-thirds of them to get to school. According to Indy and Line, it not only takes much longer with the regular bus, because of the many transfers they have to make. According to them, you also have to hope that there is room on the bus. After all, if the regular bus at your stop is full, it will continue.
“If buses disappear, this school will no longer be feasible for me.”
Indy and Line indicate that they have to look for another school when the special student buses disappear. And they think that’s a pity, because they chose this school very consciously.
The latter also applies to Wessel. Like the two girls, he too has a big problem when the school buses stop running. It already takes him about an hour and a half to get to school, but the regular bus takes him even longer. Because then he has to transfer much more often. “This school is no longer feasible for me,” he says.
The deputy praised the efforts of the students in Rucphen on Wednesday morning. But she emphasized to the NOS Radio 1 Journaal that the buses will not disappear, but will be replaced by regular buses. So, she says, not much will change for the students. “It can take five to 10 minutes longer to get to school,” she says.
A comment that was not well received by the activists, because it would take students much longer to get to school. However, the deputy promised to look at things ‘seriously’ again.
“The buses really are the lifeblood of the school.”
According to the students and teachers, scrapping the special buses would be a problem for more than 400 students. Pupils who come to the green pre-vocational school from far away. School times have even been adapted to the bus lines in Andel. For example, lessons start at half past eight or at ten past ten, so that the buses can run twice in the morning and the lessons coincide exactly with the bus times.
The special school buses have been running for 25 years, but cutbacks by the province are now threatening to throw a spanner in the works. And according to chairman of the board Rob Neutelings, that could well mean the end of the school. “The buses really are the lifeblood of the school,” he says.
He assumes that the buses will continue to run and he therefore does not make any plans if this is not the case. “We assume that very sensible people work at the province.”
