argia.eus
INPRIMATU
About 7,000 schoolchildren from Araba and Bizkaia are still not guaranteed school transportation
  • Bildarratz accuses companies of "using their families as hostages" and warns that if they do not comply with the service "they will have consequences". At Etxaurren College in Ayala they have gone on strike and on Monday they have not taken the children to school.
Irati Irazusta Jauregi 2023ko irailaren 11
Bildarratzek garraio enpresei egotzi die zerbitzurik ez egotearen gaineko ardura. (Argazkia: EITB)

The school transport service remains unresolved in Álava and Bizkaia. The Basque Government has rejected the precautionary measures requested by the transport companies, but not on Monday many students have received the service because, although it is difficult to determine the quantity, each company is making decisions on its own. About 7,000 students are suffering the consequences of this conflict, as some 30 companies have planted.

The Basque Government Education Advisor, Jokin Bildarratz, has been interviewed in Onda Vasca. He pointed out that the Department of Education had no data on whether transport companies were currently serving, as they were not currently related to them. He accuses them of what's going on and accuses them of "using families as hostages." He also says that "in some way" they will guarantee the service and that the families affected will be compensated.

At the beginning of the year the Basque Government made a competition for school transport routes, but most tours were not presented. So many services were left untendered, and the Basque Government wanted to force transport companies to carry out the tours carried out last year at the beginning of the course. The companies stood up against the order of the government and called for precautionary measures. But the government has rejected these measures.

Bildarratz warns that companies have an executive order to provide the service and that they will have "consequences" if they do not. According to the counsellor, the actual cost of the service and 6% of the industrial profit are being paid.

As a protest, there was a strike at Etxaurren College in Ayala on Monday and parents have not taken their children to school. Modesto Marin, representative of the Parents’ Association, has said on Naiz that if the problem is not solved on Tuesday they will take a class tour.

Dossier against transport undertakings

The Department of Education suspects that transport companies have broken the law by submitting competitive agreements between them. Bildarratz considers "striking" that 100% of the tours are covered in Gipuzkoa, about 50% in Álava and less than 10% in Bizkaia. For its resolution, the CAPV Competition Committee has announced the opening of a file against 76 transport companies.