If you live in Prague, elementary school is in most cases at the walking distance from your home or only a few stations of public transport. However, it is not usual in smaller municipalities or towns. Sometimes, the transportation of small children to the school is a logistical challenge for their parents. And on top of that, the endless trains of vehicles going to Prague complicate the situation of people living in the villages around Prague every morning. The transportation of a child to the school and yourself to your workplace on time becomes a little miracle. 

The similar problem was recently solved in Jesenice. This popular village, upgraded to a town in 2015 is located in the Prague-West district. A lot of young people move here to start their family in this place. The number of inhabitants is around nine thousand with the average age of about 40 years. And there is another unusual feature of Jesenice – it is quite a fragmented town which is created by four quite distant areas - Jesenice, Osnice, Zdiměřice and Horní Jirčany.

The distance between the Jesenice´s primary school and the edge areas of the town is more than four kilometres. Even though there is a public service bus it does not serve all parts of Jesenice. Thus the car almost becomes a must. About 900 children attend the school; the younger ones represent a considerable majority. Every year of the junior school has up to five classes and the senior school has  two classes in every year. The transport situation at about half past seven in the morning, when parents bring their children to the school used to be really desperate. The cars moved by centimetres, parents were more and more nervous and afraid of not being at work on time and the air quality suffered too.

The trains of vehicles in front of the school are history

Municipality and school management tried to solve such joyless situation. They got the idea to use a school bus that would settle the transport situation in front of school. When there appeared the opportunity to ask for support from the Operational Programme Employment, they did not hesitate. The school bus has operated here since the beginning of the school year 2016/2017. Thanks to this subsidy the parents, or more precisely their children, can use this service for free.

Even before the presentation of a project application the municipality investigated the interest of parents in such service. Based on their reactions they planned the project so that the bus is able to transport about 60 children to the school per day. "On 1^st September, only three children went by bus and parents were satisfied informing each other and then, a snowball effect occurred. After two months, we have 171 contracts. We had to buy one more bus. The children even stand in busses and every bus goes twice in the morning," says Radka Vladyková, a mayor of Jesenice.

“The traffic jam in front of the school is considerably reduced. It used to be a total catastrophe between half past seven and eight in the morning, now the rush hour takes about five minutes and then disappears,” confirms Radek Zápotocký, a deputy mayor, who is in charge of the project. “Before we started the project, it was usual that children were late by few minutes in the morning - just due to the traffic jam. Now it is very rare,” adds Jitka Novotná, a school director.

The busses serve 15 stations in two rounds. The bus stations are sometimes in the same place as public service busses, but for example in Osnice, the municipality built the traffic island so that children do not wait right on the road. Every child using the service has its card that is checked by a bus driver. The busses are also used for the transport of children between school buildings since the school has one smaller building and also rented classrooms in the private school on the other side of Jesenice. Thus after classes, the busses are in service following the school time-table and sometimes make three or four rounds in the afternoon.

The parents are full of praise for this service and really satisfied. That is why municipality and school management decided to go on with the project even after the subsidy is spent “I can see the main benefit in the fact that the parents are at peace in the morning knowing that their children are provided with due care. And they do not need to rush to pick them up in the afternoon. The school bus takes children home where their grandmothers, who often do not have a driving licence, already wait for them,” concludes the mayor of Jesenice.