The parents of up to 500 secondary school pupils who will be stranded without bus transport in September are holding a protest in Galway city tomorrow.
The situation, which will affect families in areas of the north, east and south of the county, follows the introduction of new safety regulations for pupils travelling on school buses in the wake of the accident in Co Meath three months ago in which five schoolgirls were killed.
Cllr Fidelma Healy-Eames (Fine Gael) has called for a special meeting of the Vocational Education Committee, which she chairs, to discuss what she has described as "a crisis".
The new regulations governing safety belts mean every pupil now has to have a seat on a school bus, putting an end to passengers either standing up or squashing into seats without wearing a seat-belt.
This has put pressure on the Department of Education, which administers the School Bus Transport Scheme through the VEC, to give priority to children attending schools in their catchment area.
Hundreds of students around the county who attend schools outside their catchment area but pay to use school bus transport will now be inconvenienced, or may not be able to avail of bus transport at all.
Ms Healy-Eames said it was high time the boundaries of the school catchment areas were changed.
"These boundaries were drawn up in 1968 and families were confined to sending their children to schools within certain catchment areas, but life has moved on so much. Lifestyles have changed, as have demographics and population. School attendance patterns have changed and the old boundary system makes no allowance for choice."
The protest takes place at the top of Eyre Square at 2pm tomorrow.
