The Council of State has just given reason to a resident of Soubise, in Charente-Maritime, so that school transport is provided in dedicated buses.
It took five years of legal battle for a resident of the agglomeration of Rochefort Océan to ensure the safety of transport for middle and high school students.
The case began in 2017 when a father, Franck Louvrier and other parents, gathered as a collective, took legal action. They ask that their children be transported in coaches and not in classic city buses. Bus transport means standing students, some of them without belts. But some lines like the line Ⅰ passes through sections 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 rendered by the highest administrative court in France, the organization of school transport could evolve, at least locally. Karine Aulier, president of the parents of Charente-Maritime, is clear: “We ask that for all the lines where the road infrastructure is not suitable, there is a coach “The president of the urban community and mayor of Rochefort, Hervé Blanché, has taken due note of this new judicial step.”We have already complied on the line Ⅰfrom the start of the 2022 academic year, depending on the judgment of the Bordeaux Court of Appeal.”
We will take into account this decision of the Council of State to adapt the other lines within the framework of our delegation until 2024
Hervé Blanché-president of the Rochefort-Océan conurbation
The collective “Touche pas à mon car” led by Franck Louvrier and Lionel Pacaud, the mayor of Soubise, is satisfied with this confirmation of their right. “School transport is regulated, the texts must be applied“, emphasizes Lionel Pacaud.
Indeed, the school transport regulations stipulate that “when a regular public passenger road transport service is mainly devoted to the transport of pupils, it meets the definition of school transport and is subject to the provisions applicable to the public transport of children” (Article L3111-7 Transport Code), namely the use of a dedicated bus.
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 the students no longer have a line at all for lack of a driver“.
As for theANATEEP, the national association which works nationally and locally to improve school transport and public transport for young people, is also delighted with this decision.