Almost 200 second level pupils in Co Kildare have been left without a school bus service after a private bus company ceased operating the route due to social distancing requirements.
Parents of the students, who attend Confey College in Leixlip, said the move will force hundreds of extra cars onto the road and cause congestion in the area.
Liz Wynne of Confey College Parents Council told RTÉ News that the development had caused stress and anxiety among both students and parents.
She said there was no direct public transport for families who have no car and there was no possibility of car pooling due to the coronavirus pandemic.
James Mullally of JM Coaches, which operates the route, said he had planned to run the service up until last week when NPHET (National Public Health Emergency Team) changed its advice to say that secondary school bus services must operate at 50% capacity to ensure social distancing.
He explained that he would have to run six buses instead of three to meet these social distancing requirements and doing so was not financially viable.
Mr Mullally said he knows a number of other private operators who have pulled out of routes due to the new NPHET guidelines and hundreds of students would be left without school bus services as a result.
Earlier today, Bus Éireann said just 20% of its secondary school bus services are operating at the recommended 50% capacity as pupils go back to school.
The operator, which carries out the School Transport Scheme on behalf of the Department of Education, said it is currently reviewing all 2,100 post primary routes it operates to try and meet the new requirements.
But it is understood it could take up to three months before all of the routes which service secondary schools can operate at 50% capacity.
Bus Éireann has begun a recruitment campaign for additional buses and taxis to try and increase the number of vehicles on these routes so they can meet the Covid-19 guidelines for school transport.
An advert, which appeared in newspapers this week, said the company is looking for operators of large, medium, small buses and taxis to car out this service and the deadline for applications is on Monday.
It said all applicants will have to be Garda vetted and their vehicles must be fitted with seatbelts and be less than 20 years old.
Bus Éireann transports almost 120,000 students to and from school every year, 68,000 of them are secondary school students, 38,000 are primary school pupils and more than 14,000 are students with special educational needs.
It has been operating the School Transport scheme on behalf of the Department of Education since 1967.
Feargal Barton of the Couch Tourism & Transport Council - which represents some operators who carry out the school bus service on behalf of Bus Éireann - said members who run school bus routes also have concerns.
He said they are now required to carry out extra cleaning under new Covid-19 guidelines but have only been allocated between €4.50 to €8.50 per vehicle per day to do so.
Mr Barton said this was not adequate to pay for a cleaning service as well as the PPE, sanitisers and cleaning materials required to meet the current requirements.
