Local coach companies will have to reduce school bus services if operating costs are not reduced before petrol and diesel returns to full price in August.
That's the view of a local provider following the Government decision to retain lower rates of excise on petrol and diesel until later in the year.
161 applications for school transport for students with special needs were made in the Shannonside region last year.
The majority were made from Roscommon with 71 submissions, while 57 and 33 applications were made respectively in Longford and Leitrim.
Aidan Geraghty from Geraghty Travel in Roscommon says these students, along with hundreds of others using school bus services in region, will be put under pressure.
Speaking to Shannonside FM news, Aidan says coach operators are being paid the same prices from five years ago despite the massive increase in inputs.
'We'd be contacting Bus Eireann and saying we cannot cover this run at this money.
We tendered for this five years ago at X, and now diesel is at Y, our contracts are not index linked or related to diesel, like some of the haulier contracts would be , with the big supermarkets and what have you.
We tendered for it five years ago, today it's the same price, and there's a huge world of a difference where we are now.'
