Transport to the ESF: a story that goes a long way back

Although a first schoolbus line only opened in September 2011, the PA had been consequent in the past in the area of common transportation. We wished to recapitulate here the heritage and the Parents’ Association efforts to address this issue so far.

Since its creation, the Parents’ Association has actively tried to address the very important issue of everyday travel to and from the school. Parents of older children would remember the shuttle bus, which used to run from the ECB to the school in the mornings. Unfortunately, this initiative proved to be non viable financially and had to be abandoned, because it resulted in sizeable deficits for the association, which was the transporter’s legal counterpart.

In 2007, the association circulated a questionnaire among parents, in an attempt to test the ground for the creation of a school bus network operated by a service provider who would enter into contracts directly with interested families, whereas the Parents’ Association would play a facilitation and co-ordination role.

Unfortunately, this first attempt failed due to various reasons. The three interacting factors, which prohibit the operation of a fully-fledged school bus network for ESF, are small numbers, lack of interest from local service providers and high prices.

The PA decided to give common transportation another try in 2010 with the aim to set up a school bus service in 2011. A review of the systems set-up in other international schools in Frankfurt and Karlsruhe was conducted to gain from their experience.

As a conclusion of an initial phase study, in which the PA was contacting various bus companies to investigate their interest, all parents were invited to a public presentation on 24/03/2011 to summarise the current status at the ESF, review what is implemented in other schools and propose a number of immediate and mid-term solutions for the ESF. The presentation was followed by constructive discussions with the parents present on that evening and with the directors of the primary and secondary schools. Both the presentation and the discussions are made available for those interested here.

Based on the population density of the PA members in the Frankfurt area, four bus lines were established for which, in a second step, the PA sent out registrations of interest to evaluate how many parents would be interested in using the school bus service. Two lines appeared viable (lines A and C) and the bus companies were asked to dimension their offers accordingly. The actual registration forms were made available to parents and the conversion rate was such that we could already start a morning service on the line A in September 2011. The interest for other journeys and routes is being monitored in order to operate any new bus line as soon as the critical mass is reached.