Poppy Shankey, 16, has regularly taken the bus to her special needs school in Clondalkin, Dublin, for more than a decade, along with an escort.
But with her bag packed and new shoes ready, her mother Sarah Fitzgibbon says that she, along with ten other families attending Scoil Mochua, which is run by the Central Remedial Clinic, were informed on Wednesday this week - just a day before school was due to start back - that the bus service they rely on had been "cancelled for the foreseeable future".
She says the families and children involved have been left in complete limbo as a result.
"There are several children who are just not able to attend school because of the situations that their families find themselves in," Ms Fitzgibbon explains.
She says the school had informed her as a representative of the parents association that a total of three bus services to the school were no longer available.
Some families travel long distances to the school which caters for close to 70 pupils and has a wide catchment area stretching across Dublin, Wicklow, Meath and even some parts of Offaly.
She said parents were given no notice and no explanation, despite repeated emails and calls to Bus Éireann.
Speaking from her home in Walkinstown in Dublin this weekend, Ms Fitzgibbon said: "We're very lucky in that we have an adapted vehicle, but it means myself and my husband having to go to our employers and asking for time off to bring and collect Poppy for school.
"But there are families that aren't as lucky as we are, who don't have adapted vehicles, who may not have vehicles and whose children cannot attend school."
She said many families simply cannot afford alternative transport: "The best solution we have been offered is if we do transport our child, we will get some of the costs back at some point.
"But if you're cash poor and you're raising a child with special needs and you're not able to work, then how are you supposed to have that outlay of cash to bring your child to school?"
Ms Fitzgibbon said the long distances involved, other siblings, a lack of public transport options and the low availability of adapted taxis made it hard for parents to make their own arrangements.
She said one four-year-old child had just been about to start in the school when this problem arose.
"Her mother had to break the news to her that she was not attending her first day of school, even though transport had been sanctioned, her escort had been sanctioned, a new buggy had been got, that had been crash-tested so it could go on the bus, they had done a lot of preparation," Ms Fitzgibbon.
She said many of the children attending the school are neurodiverse and had been carefully preparing for the start of school. "We have to prepare them with pictures of drivers, escorts, all of that work for naught and that child can't go to school until this is resolved."
She said the bus was vital for the school. She said for parents taking time out to drop their children so far would have an impact on their ability to earn a living.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education said the routes to the school in Clondalkin had not been cancelled and that Bus Éireann was doing everything within its power to resolve the situation.
The Department says a small number of routes - around 1% of services operated by Bus Éireann - had been handed back or affected by ongoing driver shortages.
Bus Éireann has said that difficulties have arisen in securing a small number of contracted services to take children with special needs to their school.
This has meant that drivers in some locations were not available for the start of the school year due to shortages.
It has apologised to the families involved and says it wants to assure them it is working to find a solution as soon as possible.
In a statement, the company said it has now issued school transport tickets to more than 132,000 students travelling on mainstream services.
It also expects to transport over 19,000 students with special educational needs.
Bus Éireann said recruitment was continuing and that solutions were being found on a daily basis for those affected.
It said it would contact affected families directly.
It said the Department of Education had established an "Exceptional No Service Interim Grant" which would be available to families who have already received a school transport ticket from Bus Éireann and where difficulties have meant that transport will not be in place for the start of the school year.
It said families do not need to make an application for this exceptional payment and those who have been issued a ticket and who still do not have a service in place will be contacted directly by the Department of Education.
The company said it had made further contact with families on Friday and that it has extended the opening hours of its dedicated customer care call centre to assist families with school transport queries.
Families that have queries can continue to contact the call centre on 0818 919 910 between 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.
Bus Éireann said there was a scheme of eligibility to determine which children get school bus transport and it said so-called "concessionary" seats were not guaranteed every year and could only be offered where there were spare seats on an existing school transport service.
Children are eligible at primary level where they reside not less than 3.2km from and are attending their nearest national school and at post-primary level where they reside not less than 4.8km from and are attending their nearest post-primary school/education centre as determined by the Department/Bus Éireann, having regard to ethos and language.
Residents in the town of Gowran in Co Kilkenny say that growth in the local population there means 47 secondary school students do not have a place on two school buses that leave the local primary school in the direction of Kilkenny city each morning.
Last year, 18 students were in this position and a protest was held there.
Residents had hoped things would improve this year but say they have been let down again and a public meeting will be held on Tuesday when they will meet with local representatives.
Local parent Martin Gittens said his four children have always travelled to Kilkenny city for school but his youngest son, who is now in his Leaving Cert year, has not secured a place on the bus for the last two years.
The school buses even drive straight past his house as he is just outside the geographic area that would secure his son a seat.
Speaking to RTÉ News, Mr Gittens said: "Over the last couple of years, the primary school has expanded here and the village has expanded substantially but there's no allowance for that in the projections for the bus."
Some parents have been told that their nearest school is now in Bagenalstown in Co Carlow but they say only a small number from the town attend there and it is also difficult to secure a school place there.
He said giving his son a lift to school on a daily basis and then picking him up again at 4pm was causing disruption to his work schedule as an architect.
He added that his son had sometimes been late for school through no fault of his own because there was no alternative public transport to get him there on time.
The cycle would be over 15km and close to busy roads.
Mr Gittens said: "This is supposedly in an environment where we're told that school has been made more accessible for children.
"It's supposedly in an environment where the country is supposed to be cash-rich, but they can't find school buses for our children, including the children who have already paid for the school bus."
He said his family has paid on time for the school bus each year.
Mr Gittens added: "This is a significant problem for every family and this has to be addressed."
