Peace Bridge affects Students Free Bus Passes
Think the end of the summer holidays wasn't depressing enough? Spare a thought for the students who have lost their free bus passes because of Londonderry's new Peace Bridge.
It was back to school for most students in Northern Ireland this week, but for the pupils of Foyle and Londonderry College, their journey back to school will now involve getting a lift from their parents, paying for a ticket on a public bus or walking to school via Derry's beautiful new Peace Bridge.
The Department of Education has recalculated who is entitled to receive a free bus pass based on the ‘three-mile rule’. It's estimated that approximately 50 families will lose their free student pass, as the opening of the bridge brings many of their journeys to below the three-mile limit.
DUP MLA William Hay dismissed any notion of amending the 'three-mile rule' stating, 'We cannot move the bridge and we cannot revise the ‘three-mile rule’, so we have got to deal with this issue as best we can and try and alleviate the financial burden for as many as possible.'
This is little comfort to many families who may not have access to a car during the school run or who will struggle to meet the price of daily bus tickets to and from school. For those students who do brave the walk, the weight of school bags has become an issue as well as the condition of the bridge should we have a repeat of last winter's snow and ice.
As the struggle for an alternate solution continues, you have to wonder who looked at the peace bridge, a symbol of peace and a new era for Derry/Londonderry and came up with the idea of taking those young people's free bus passes away.
This will no doubt be an issue that WIMPS Derry/Londonderry crew will be looking into.
