The Council of State has just agreed with a resident of Soubise, in Charente-Maritime, for school transport to be provided in dedicated buses.
It took a five-year legal battle for a resident of the Rochefort Océan agglomeration to ensure transport safety for middle and high school students.
The case began in 2017 when a father, Franck Louvrier and other parents, gathered collectively, filed a lawsuit. They ask that their children be transported by bus and not in the classic city buses. Bus transportation means standing students, some of them without seat belts. But some lines like the line Ⅰ crosses stretches of road limited to 70 km/h.
The administrative court of Poitiers agreed with these parents, in 2019, by condemning the agglomeration of Rochefort. This decision was confirmed on appeal last April, in Bordeaux. It has now been definitively validated by the Council of State.
A decision that could make juriscaution
With a decision made by France’s highest administrative court, the organization of school transport could evolve, at least at the local level. Karine Aulier, president of parents of Charente-Maritime, is clear: “We ask that there be a bus for all lines where the road infrastructure is not adequate “The president of the agglomeration community and mayor of Rochefort, Hervé Blanche, has taken note of this new judicial step”.We have already respected the line Ⅰfrom the beginning of the 2022 academic year, depending on the ruling of the Bordeaux Court of Appeal.”
We will take into account this decision of the State Council to adjust the other lines within our delegation until 2024
Hervé Blanche-president of the Rochefort-Océan conurbation
The “Touche pas à mon car” collective led by Franck Louvrier and Lionel Pacaud, mayor of Soubise, is pleased with this confirmation of their right. “School transport is regulated, the texts must be applied“, underlines Lionel Pacaud.
In fact, the school transport regulation provides that “when a regular public road passenger public transport service is primarily dedicated to the transport of pupils, meets the definition of school transport and is subject to the provisions applicable to public transport of children” (article L3111-7 Transport Code), or the use of a dedicated coach.
If the mayor of Rochefort says he is ready to make efforts to adapt his school transport, he nevertheless underlines the organizational difficulties and the cost that this entails. “Finding and recruiting bus drivers is very difficult these days. The risk is that students no longer have queues due to lack of a driver“.
As for theANATEEP, the national association that works nationally and locally to improve school transport and public transport for young people, is also pleased with this decision.
