AKT cancellation disrupts school transport for vulnerable children

More than 50 children in Kristiansand have lost their usual school transport after Agder public transport authority AKT ended its agreement with Taxi Sør shortly before the start of the school year, NRK reports.

Parents say the timing has created uncertainty for children who depend on familiar drivers and predictable routines. Many of the affected children have special needs.

“The taxi journey is important for getting the day off to a good start. Most of these children do not speak and depend on security,” said Bernt Holskog, a parent representative for the competence department at Nygård School in Søgne.

Fifteen children at the school are normally driven by Taxi Sør. They must now get used to new drivers.

Holskog, whose 12-year-old child is severely disabled, said parents had been calling him with concerns about the coming weeks.

“This is critical for the children involved. They depend on having a driver they recognise. This will undoubtedly affect them negatively,” he said.

Ronny Myrene, head of the municipal parent committee in Kristiansand, described AKT’s handling of the matter as a scandal. He said the news came as a shock to parents and school leaders when it was delivered two days before the start of school.

Myrene said AKT should have continued using Taxi Sør until a later date to protect children who need predictability in their daily lives.

AKT chief executive Siv Wiken said she understood the concern, but that the circumstances were so serious that the cooperation had to be stopped immediately.

“We have great understanding of the uncertainty this creates. We know it can be a difficult transition for some pupils and their families,” Wiken said.

AKT ended the framework agreement after uncovering overbilling of 11.7 million Norwegian kroner. Wiken said the authority would report Taxi Sør to the police on Wednesday, but declined to say how many drivers were involved.

“This is now a police matter, so we will leave it to the police,” she said.

Wiken said AKT had preferred to wait before changing taxi companies, but could not do so because of the seriousness of the case. The authority’s goal is to provide safe transport for all the pupils on Thursday.

Agder Taxi is among the companies working to take over some of the journeys. Communications manager Carl Fredrik Holst said the company was doing everything it could to limit the impact on the children.

Taxi Sør told NRK on Tuesday that the irregularities uncovered so far were linked to journeys and invoicing documentation from some licence holders. The company said it was working to establish the full scope of the matter and ensure repayment to AKT.