16. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Education and Youth the progress made to date in relation to the introduction of e-ticketing as part of the school transport scheme; if there are plans to expand e-ticketing to other schools for the 2026-27 academic year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28771/26]

Sentiment score: 0.21

I welcome the Minister of State's reply. The e-ticketing pilot data is extremely important in respect of the use of school transport. Every week we all get complaints about seats being vacant on school buses, while the children who would use them do not have access to the buses. E-ticketing is extremely important in making sure that there is full utilisation and that the people who have been unfortunate in not being able to get on the school transport system can use those vacant seats. What is occurring in parts of the country is that people agree to take the transport offered but then do not use it for various reasons, or they may use it some days of the week but not every day. It is important that e-ticketing would give us the correct data on the usage of school transport.

Sentiment score: 0.20

Will the Minister of State clarify if there is a target date for e-ticketing to be available across the board in all school transport systems?

Sentiment score: 0.00