The body has found that the Administration has not adequately responded to the needs of these children, who have been denied the service despite meeting the requirements established by regulations.
The cases studied involve children aged between eight and twelve with a disability degree equal to or greater than 65%, who cannot use conventional public transport. Three of these children reside in Barcelona and must travel to special education centers far from their homes. The fourth child lives outside the city but needs to access Barcelona due to the lack of adapted educational provision in their municipality.
In all four cases, the City Council has denied adapted public transport, citing a lack of available routes or a restrictive interpretation of current regulations. The ombudsman emphasizes that regulations provide for individual travel aid when specific routes do not exist, thus ensuring the service.
“"The system for accessing school transport is not being fully implemented, and there is no clear and accessible procedure for processing individual aid."
The Ombudsman's Office believes that the denials are not sufficiently in line with the law and can lead to situations of inequality. Therefore, it urges the Education Consortium to take the necessary measures to guarantee this right and review the application processing procedure.
