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Transport FAQ

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General Information

APEEE has exclusive competence for the transport service (with no involvement of the school management). The daily operation is ensured by the Transport Office (three staff members), while the APEEE has a dedicated Transport Working Group, made up of parent representatives (Board Members), which is responsible for the oversight of the service.
Our APEEE collaborates with six external bus companies specialised in school transport (current contracts run until July 2021), which provide both buses and bus drivers. To the extent possible, we try to keep the same bus drivers on the same routes. We have established excellent working relations with all our external providers, and ensure continuity while improving constantly our service.
Our APEEE employs the bus supervisors directly. Those are either adults (notably from the ALE “Agence Locale pour l'Emploi” in Ixelles) or upper secondary pupils (S5-S7) assigned to their own buses (especially for bus routes outside Brussels). We try to ensure the presence of adult supervisors on all afternoon buses that carry our youngest pupils (MAT, P). All supervisors are instructed to follow specific guidelines in exercising their tasks, as decided by the APEEE Transport WG, and several information sessions are organised for this purpose by our Transport Office. They receive special training in first aid from the Red Cross, as well as training on safety and prevention on a yearly basis. Our Transport Office verifies closely the performance of all bus supervisors, who are also subject to a regular assessment procedure.
The bus drivers are responsible for driving the pupils to and from school safely, as well as for respecting the timetable and itinerary, as provided by the Transport Office. Their tasks and obligations are clearly set out in the contracts that our APEEE has signed with each external bus company. In the extraordinary event that the bus supervisor is absent (or for mini-buses with no supervisor), the bus driver will assume these tasks as well.
The bus supervisors are responsible for ensuring the safety and comfort of our pupils on the bus. They are particularly attentive to the youngest pupils (MAT / P1-2), whom they help to fasten and unfasten their safety belts, and ensure that they are seated in the first three rows of the bus. They receive the pupils in the morning and are responsible for entrusting them to the designated persons in the afternoon (unless the pupil is authorised to leave the bus unaccompanied). They monitor the presence of pupils on the bus at all times. They indicate to the Transport Office any delay of the bus in the morning or report any ad hoc incident (e.g. absence of an adult to pick up the child). The bus supervisors follow the instructions of the Transport Office on how to deal with each incident. They receive and validate a list of all their obligations in the beginning of the school year.

Bus Routes & Timetables

• Morning route (to school)
• First departure (from school) at 15:35 (Mo, Tu, Th, Fr) for MAT/P/S1-S2
• Second departure (from school) at 16:30 (Mo, Tu, Th, Fr) for S1-S7 and MAT / P pupils attending an extracurricular activity
• Wednesday pm - single departure for all pupils at 13:00; buses have the same bus number and follow the same route (in reverse) as in the morning.
Yes, there are separate buses going to each OIB afterschool facility (Wilson, Van Maerlant, Cole, Palmerston, Beaulieu, Genève, Branepark) at the first departure. Since the previous school year, assigned buses at the second departure also serve the afterschool facilities, in order to transfer children that follow an extracurricular activity at school. Please also note that:
• on Wednesdays, pupils enrolled in the afterschool facilities have lunch at the school canteen and take the garderie bus (at 13:30) under the supervision of the OIB monitors;
• on Fridays, 5 buses leave school at 12:30 for the garderies (MAT/ P1-P2 only)

Transport Enrolment

The enrolment is done exclusively through MyAPEEE.
Please follow the different video tutorials that will lead you through every step of the enrolment process.
Please see the webpage Enrolment No enrolment to any of the APEEE services is possible before the payment of the APEEE annual fee (€45 euros/family).
For the new pupils, we cannot accept enrolments before parents receive written confirmation of a place at our school. For children entering the school at a later stage during the school year, enrolment is also possible subject to the availability of places in the relevant bus.
No, the general rule is that the school bus service covers the journey “home-school-home” (for divorced parents, this is extended to two homes), or “school-garderie”. Our bus routes and the capacity of our buses are decided exclusively on this basis.
In accordance with Belgian Law parents or other persons exercising the parental responsibility must decide whether their minor child may get on and off the bus alone. Parents' specific consent is always compulsory, especially for children aged below 12 years and must be confirmed in the specific box of the e-enrolment application. For pupils aged above 12 and below 18 years parents must assess their children’s’ maturity and other circumstances, and can provide their consent accordingly. By ticking the relevant box parents confirm that they relieve the transport service and the bus supervisors from any responsibility for any incident occurring before the bus departure and after the bus arrival at the bus stop.
When you register your child through our enrolment platform, you can use the option “Help Me” to enter your street address and the Transport Office will inform you of the nearest bus stop. Alternatively, you can contact the Transport Office (transport@apeeeb3.be) with this request.
We advise you to subscribe your child taking account of the most probable scenario. Should you need to introduce changes to your child’s enrolment application, we ask you to proceed without any delay, in order to allow us to make the necessary arrangements accordingly. In order to communicate such changes, please use the enrolment system to contact the Transport Office.
Yes, the change is accepted provided there is a place available in the new bus.
There are currently two possible options: either a full subscription (even if your child takes the bus only in the morning or in the afternoon), or a garderie subscription (afternoon buses towards the garderies only). The latter will be charged with 50% of the subscription fee.
Currently, our bus routes already provide for sufficient bus stops. Nevertheless, a demand can be made through our enrolment platform at the time of registration (you can use the option “Help me” for this purpose) or contact the Transport Office (transport@apeeeb3.be) with this request.
All requests for new bus stops are examined individually. However, it should be underlined that this is a school bus service that cannot operate on a door-to-door basis. We endeavour to keep the duration of the bus routes as short as possible in the interest of all pupils on the bus, and for that reason our buses need to circulate mainly on general axes and larger roads. Special attention is given to the youngest pupils.

Transport Subscription & Payment

For parents that receive the EU education allowance (EU officials, temporary or contractual agents, but not the national experts), school transport costs (as of primary) are reimbursed directly by the EU institutions they work for (parents receive no invoice).
All other parents (e.g. working for NATO, Permanent representations, embassies, private sector) will be charged directly with the school transport costs.
Attention! Transport costs for nursery pupils are always paid directly by the parents. The invoices are sent through our enrolment platform every trimester (e.g.15/10, 15/12, 15/4) to the parents, who bear the transport costs themselves.
No, there are no discounts available.
Yes, the children can be enrolled on two bus lines without any additional cost.
The parents of nursery children are charged the transport costs directly.
Yes, you can cancel your subscription at any time of the year. The transport costs will be calculated only for the period the child was still enrolled for.
The parents/children must buy an occasional ticket at the Transport Office. It costs €5.50 each way. The bus supervisor will collect the ticket before granting access to the bus.
If your child needs to take exceptionally another bus than the one it usually takes, there is no need to buy a ticket (no additional fee is charged). You must write down in the agenda of your child the requested bus number and bus stop and get a stamp from the Transport Office (subject to availability of places on the bus).

First Days at School

Yes, the buses run normally as of the first school day.
Yes, however, we recommend that you bring your child to school on the first couple of days, unless he/she is accompanied by his/her older sibling(s). Nevertheless, even if young children take the bus on their own, the Transport staff present on the parking lot will take due care of them and guide them to the nursery hall. Our staff pays particular attention to the youngest children.
The second departure starts on the first Thursday of the school year.
The only buses leaving on Friday at 12:30 operate the routes to the OIB garderies (for MAT / P1-P2 only). There are no buses operating the routes home at Friday 12:30 for those pupils.
Yes, a badge is highly recommended, especially for the first days of the school year. It should contain all relevant information (name of the child, n° of the bus, bus stop and mobile number of the parents)

Daily Operation - Communication with Parents

The Transport Office should notify you by a text message of any delay that exceeds 15 minutes. You can also call the Transport Office (open as of 7.00) at 02.211.40.03.
No, the bus should always wait for the children until the official time that is fixed for each bus stop. Nevertheless, we advise parents to arrive (five minutes) earlier to the bus stop, as the traffic conditions cannot always be predicted, and the bus stop localisation does not always allow the bus to wait.
You could contact the Transport Office (open daily from 7.00 to 17.30, except for Wednesday, when our office closes at 14.00) at 02.211.40.03. Alternatively, you can also call the GSM of the service (0472.172.078), which remains accessible for as long as our buses operate (morning or afternoon).
If there is no emergency (see previous question/answer), the Transport Office receives your calls every day from 9 am until 12 hrs.
The regular communication with parents is ensured by means of an email for all information that relates to foreseeable changes (e.g. change of bus stop due to road works). All ad-hoc issues are communicated to parents by text messages (e.g. delays of more than 15 minutes, inability to reach a bus stop due to demonstrations, accident or breakdown of the bus, snow on the road). On urgent matters, you will also be contacted by phone. Please consult regularly our website, where information is provided on scheduled events that may affect traffic on a given day (e.g. Brussels summits, strikes).
Please, call the Transport Office at 02.211.40.03 (landline). We will contact the bus driver directly to see what is going on.
In the absence of an adult waiting at the bus stop and when the child has no authorisation to leave the bus alone, the bus supervisor notifies immediately the Transport Office. Our staff get in touch with the parents concerned with the aim of finding an ad-hoc solution to the problem (e.g. time of parent to arrive). If no communication is possible, the child will be returned to school by bus or taxi (accompanied by the bus supervisor). The bus cannot wait for the parents to arrive at a bus stop, in order not to delay the rest of the route.
No, this is not ok. All changes, even minor ones, need to be decided by the Transport Office/APEEE Working Group and registered in the official bus route. Bus drivers or monitors have no authority to make such changes themselves. Besides the organisational aspects, be aware that if a replacing driver operates your line, he / she will follow the official route and designated bus stops that our Transport Office will provide.

Accompanying/Supervising Children

Teachers do that for the children of nursery and 1st and 2nd class of primary (in case of P2 pupils only during the first couple of months of the school year). If your child goes to any extracurricular activity, he/she will be accompanied to the bus by the monitor of the activity.
Two members of staff receive the nursery children on the parking lot and accompany them to the préau (the main hall) of the nursery.
Our APEEE employs directly the bus supervisors, either adults (notably from the ALE “Agence Locale pour l´Emploi” in Ixelles) or upper secondary pupils (S5-S7) assigned to their own buses (especially for bus routes outside Brussels). We try to ensure the presence of adult supervisors on all afternoon buses that carry our youngest pupils (MAT, P). This also applies to the buses of the second departure (16:30 for secondary pupils) that are used by MAT / P pupils following their extracurricular activities.
The supervisor receives a list of children on the bus, including the bus stop of each child, as well as the names of the persons responsible to pick up the child at the bus stop.
On Wednesdays, each OIB garderie sends its own monitors to our school to have lunch with the pupils and accompany them in the bus going to the respective garderie.

OIB Garderies

Yes, there are separate buses going to each OIB afterschool facility in Brussels at first departure (Wilson, Van Maerlant, Cole, Palmerston, Beaulieu, Genève, Barnepark). Since the previous school year, assigned buses at the second departure also serve the afterschool facilities, in order to transfer children that have followed an extracurricular activity at school.
Please also note that:
• on Wednesdays, pupils enrolled in the afterschool facilities have lunch at the school canteen and take the garderie bus (at 13:30) under the supervision of the OIB monitors;
• on Fridays, 5 buses leave school at 12:30 for the garderies (MAT/ P1-P2 only)
No. If your child only takes the bus in the afternoon to go to the garderie, only 50% of the annual subscription fee will be charged.
On Wednesdays, each OIB garderie sends its own monitors to our school to have lunch with the pupils and accompany them in the bus going to the respective garderie.
No, this option is not provided. The OIB staff is responsible for the children from the moment that they go to the garderie, and no arrangement is currently in place for them to be taken to the school buses.

Specific Cases

Please inform the Transport Office by email at least one day in advance. Additionally, please write and sign a note in your child's agenda indicating the change. Your child then needs to come to the Transport Office to have it signed and validated there, depending on the availability of places on the other bus.
The parents/children can buy an occasional ticket at the Transport Office. It costs €5.50 each way. The bus supervisor will collect the ticket before granting access to the bus.
All forgotten objects that are found on our buses are collected in a box in the Transport Office. Please ask your child to pass by. After one week, these objects are transferred to a box in the main hall in nursery and during the holidays they will be taken to Eureka.
In principle, yes, because we work with private companies. In case the transport service cannot be ensured, you will be notified in advance.
In principle, yes, however important delays are likely to occur. In the event that our bus cannot move further and is unable to reach all bus stops, parents are notified without delay. We always proceed on the basis of an ad-hoc assessment of the situation, but, as a general rule, the buses return to school and parents are requested to pick up their children individually.
Yes, all the buses are equipped with security belts and pupils are obliged to use them. The bus supervisors assist the younger children.
The general principle is that as long as the STIB buses run, so do our school buses. However, in the event of snow or ice on the streets, not all bus stops can be served. This is the reason why several parents (not all) receive a communication from the Transport Office, indicating the exact place where their bus stop will be moved to under such weather conditions. You will be notified by means of an email or text message, whenever the “winter” bus stops will apply.