Bus Éireann launch competition for Transition Year students
TY students invited to document their journey to school and share their memories
Bus Éireann celebrating its 50th year operating the School Transport Scheme
Marking its 50th year operating the School Transport Scheme on behalf of the Department of Education & Skills*, Bus Éireann is launching its Go Places with Bus Éireann competition for Transition Year students today, in which they are inviting TY students from all over the country to get creative in making memories about their journey to school.
Every day in the region of 115,000 students from 3,000 schools around the country travel to and from school on the scheme, on 4,500 vehicles across 6,500 routes. This adds up to more than 40 million individual journeys undertaken by school kids on the scheme annually.
Nationwide Competition
School days are often said to be ‘the best days of your lives’, so Bus Éireann is inviting TY students to get creative in documenting their journey to school. Entries can be submitted in video, photo or written format and students are being asked to capture highlights of their journey in a creative and innovative way. Where do they go? How do they spend that time? Who do they travel with? Who are the people and what are the places in their community that they pass by every day, and what are their stories? What would they do to make it more enjoyable or efficient?
Nicola Cooke, Media and PR Manager with Bus Éireann said: “Bus Éireann is proud to have operated the School Transport Scheme on behalf of the Department of Education and Skills for the last 50 years. For many, school years are where memories are made.
“So that’s why we’re inviting TY students to document their school journeys and share them with us as part of ‘Go Places’. We want them to get creative in capturing their journey - who they meet, what they do, what landmarks they pass by in their community every day – and share them with us creatively, to be in with a chance of winning.”
Launch
Helping Bus Éireann launch the competition in Dublin City Centre today were students from Coláiste Chraobh Abhann in Kilcoole, Wicklow, and TV/radio presenters, Blathnaid Treacy & Stephen Byrne.
Recollecting her journey to school, Blathnaid Treacy said: “Some of my fondest memories of school are from those journeys to and from school, in the wind, rain and sunshine. Those early Winter mornings were so cold, until I got to hop on my bus to school. I used to spend my 45-minute journey catching up on homework, chatting about who we fancied with friends, listening to music and even get another few minutes sleep if I could! If you're in Transition Year, you should try and capture some of those memories and you might even win an iPad while you’re at it! There's also a chance for you to bring your whole class to Tayto Park, and that's something everyone would remember!”
Stephen Byrne added: “I had many different trips to school as I ended up going to six schools in total from Australia to Dublin's City Centre, but the one that always sticks out for me was my first few years of secondary. It reminds me of those scenes from The Truman Show where he would face the same situation every morning on loop. I would leave my house and stop at a local shop run by a neighbour on my road to get the sweet things my mum wouldn't pack in my lunch box. I would then have to cycle by a graveyard every day! I was a big fan of horror movies when I was younger but they used to scare me senseless so on the dark wintery mornings I cycled faster than would probably be advised! Once I'd darted by it I would always pass this house with a man sitting in the window looking out. I'd always wave and he'd wave back. We never spoke or even met but it always stands out in my mind that we had that simple exchange!”
Go Places with Bus Éireann is open to all TY students from across the Republic of Ireland. Deadline for entries is 16 March 2018. For more information visit www.goplaceswithbe.ie
Thursday, 7th September, 2017