Northern Ireland school taxi rates fall 15% after 1,200 routes retendered, but some ‘excessive rates’ remain, says Education Authority

Mileage rates submitted for school taxi contracts in Northern Ireland have fallen by around 15% after the Education Authority retendered more than 1,200 routes ahead of the new academic year.

Early analysis of the procurement exercise suggests the authority has secured substantial savings across much of its school transport network.

The Education Authority, known as EA, credited taxi operators that worked with it to reduce contract costs.

However, the public body said several routes had not delivered equivalent savings and alleged that some operators were continuing to charge “excessive rates”.

EA cited one route covering just under 20 miles for which the lowest bid was approximately £250 per day. It said the proposed charge was equivalent to £42,000 annually and more than three times the value calculated using established Department for Infrastructure taxi rates.

The authority said the bids created a difficult operational choice because rejecting a costly tender could leave a child without transport to and from school, while accepting it would place further pressure on a fixed budget and potentially affect other services.

EA attempted to lower prices through further retendering during August. With the school year now under way, it has decided to award the remaining runs to the lowest bidding operators to protect continuity of transport for the children involved.

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In its update, EA said: “Improving the cost effectiveness of taxi provision remains a priority, and we will continue to focus attention on the smaller number of routes that are in this position to determine what further action can be taken throughout the school year.”

Further discussions with taxi operators are expected. The authority has warned that families could instead receive parental payments if it cannot secure more cost-effective transport arrangements on the affected routes.

EA said: “Looking to the future, unless we can secure arrangements that improve cost effectiveness, EA may have no option other than to provide transport assistance in the form of a parental payment.”

Operators serving specialist or low-volume routes could face renewed procurement activity as EA seeks savings while maintaining access to education for eligible pupils.

The authority linked the work to its wider budget shortfall, saying publicly funded organisations had an obligation to pursue efficiencies because of the potential consequences for other services.