School Transportation
If your child is unable to get to school on their own—for example, due to illness, a disability, or behavioral issues—school transportation is available. In some cases, your child may also be eligible for this service because the school is far away. School transportation is a full or partial reimbursement from the municipality for transportation costs to and from school.
You must reapply for school transportation each new school year in the municipality where your child lives. If possible, do so before June 1.
Good to Know
The municipality (the mayor and aldermen) will make a decision within 8 weeks of receiving the required documents. This decision period may be extended once by 4 weeks.
If the online application does not work, parents can call 14 0168 to make an appointment to fill out the application together at the town hall in Zevenbergen.
What are the terms and conditions?
Your child may be eligible for school transportation if any of the following situations apply:
- the distance between the home and the nearest special education school or (special) elementary school is greater than 6 kilometers; or
- the student attends a school located more than 6 kilometers from home due to religious or philosophical beliefs; or
- the student is unable to travel independently on public transportation due to a disability. This refers to a permanent disability, not a temporary situation.
- Students attending a (special) secondary school are eligible for student transportation only if they are unable to travel independently by public transportation due to a physical and/or mental disability.
Is there a copayment for student transportation?
Elementary School and Special Elementary School (S.B.O.)
Whether you are required to pay a copayment for transportation to a public elementary school or a special elementary school depends on your municipality. This may vary from municipality to municipality. The municipality may apply a financial contribution or threshold. This means that the municipality may determine that:
- You are responsible for the cost of the first 6 kilometers. This amount is calculated based on public transportation fares.
- If the distance between the school and your home is more than 20 kilometers, the municipality may require you to make a financial contribution based on your ability to pay.
- Whether you have to pay this depends on your and your partner’s (if any) combined income. To determine this, you may need an IB60 form from the Tax Authority.
School for (secondary) special education and secondary school
You do not have to pay a copayment for transportation to schools for special (secondary) education and secondary education.
Report a change
Please notify us in advance if there are any changes to your child's school transportation. For example, if you move to a different location or if your child starts attending a different school.
- If you need to cancel your transportation on an occasional basis (for example, due to illness), please contact the transportation provider directly. Processing a change takes at least 1 week and sometimes longer. Therefore, please notify us of any changes 2 weeks in advance.
- If you no longer wish to use the school transportation service, please let us know by emailing leerlingenvervoer@moerdijk.nl. We would also appreciate it if you could let us know the reason why you no longer wish to use the school transportation service.
A child of divorced parents may have two residences. For example, in cases of shared custody, where the child spends an equal amount of time with each parent, one could say that the child has two primary residences. If school transportation is requested, both parents must submit a separate application to the municipality where they reside for the days the child stays with them during the week. This is not based on where the student is enrolled, but on the student’s actual place of residence. The respective municipalities assess each application against their own school transportation regulations. In doing so, they examine, among other things, whether the school is indeed the nearest accessible school and whether the distance requirement is met. It often happens that eligibility for school transportation applies to only one of the two residential addresses, because the school is not the nearest accessible school from both addresses.
In the case of a temporary disability lasting up to three months, there is no entitlement to school transportation.
A medical certificate from the treating specialist must always be submitted along with the school transportation application form.
Young people enrolled in vocational education (MBO), higher professional education (HBO), or a university program can apply for this through the UWV. They are not eligible for municipal student transportation.
The carrier strives to ensure that an individual student’s travel time (under normal circumstances) does not exceed 60 minutes, unless the carrier can demonstrate that the travel distance makes it impossible to stay within this limit. Exceptions to this rule may be made to ensure the proper and efficient operation of student transportation. Under no circumstances may the individual maximum travel time exceed 90 minutes, unless the distance to the destination makes this impossible. The maximum travel time is calculated from the moment a student boards the vehicle until the moment they disembark.
The driver supervises the students during the ride. Parents must instruct their children to behave in a way that prevents any disturbances from occurring during the ride.
If additional supervision is needed, parents will be responsible for arranging it. The municipality provides a seat for a chaperone for this purpose.
The municipality may also decide to suspend the student from the school transportation program and discontinue the service if the parents do not provide the necessary supervision.
No, transportation is scheduled to align with the school hours as outlined in the school plan. At the start of the school year, a transportation plan is drawn up based on this information, with the goal of combining students’ transportation as much as possible.
No, transportation is scheduled to align with the school hours listed in the school calendar. At the start of the school year, a transportation plan is drawn up based on this information, with the aim of combining students’ rides as much as possible.
If a school has different class schedules within the regular school hours, the transportation provider may schedule a waiting period of one or more class periods in order to coordinate with the regular student transportation service, unless the student is unable to wait due to a disability. Extracurricular activities should be scheduled after the last class period.
School transportation is reimbursed only for travel between the student’s home address and the school. Transportation to, for example, after-school care is reimbursed only if the address is located along the route of the taxi assigned to the student and there are no additional costs involved. In addition, this is permitted only on fixed (regular) days.
You can submit your complaint using the student transportation complaint form.
The complaint is forwarded to both the municipality and the transportation company. The agreement is that the transportation company will first attempt to resolve the complaint. Only if that fails will the municipality step in to mediate.