By adapted school transport, the journey can take more than twice as long as by car. Ana María Jiménez says her 16-year-old son, who has reduced mobility, spends up to 1 hour and 35 minutes travelling from Lebrija to the Centro de Educación Especial Maruja de Quinta in Utrera. The drive takes about 40 minutes.
Jiménez described the journey in an interview on Pasajeros al Tren, a programme on Alto Jalón Radio. El Alto Jalón published the interview on 27 October. Her complaint centres on route 211, which starts in Lebrija and continues to Utrera, collecting pupils along the way in El Cuervo and Las Cabezas de San Juan.
Seven pupils use the route, including three from Lebrija and two from El Cuervo. One is from Las Cabezas, while another is collected near the destination. The current operator took over on 1 December 2025 after a new Junta de Andalucía tender. Jiménez says families were not told in advance and learned about the change from the previous driver.
She also reports repeated breakdowns. The buses are between 16 and 19 years old, she says, and families saw three different vehicles in one week. On one occasion, a taxi was sent after the coach failed to arrive. The monitor considered it inadequate for the return journey.
Other concerns relate to whether the vehicles suit the pupils’ needs. Jiménez says a bus operated without air conditioning during October, when Lebrija recorded maximum temperatures of 32 degrees. The only practical adaptation, she says, is a rear door for wheelchair access. The two monitors, she adds, need better preparation for situations such as a sensory crisis, which she says occurred last school year.
The families want route 211 split to reduce time on board. They also want vehicles suited to pupils’ needs, with staff trained to support them. Jiménez says the families have contacted the Police and the Guardia Civil, and have also approached local councils and the Defensor del Pueblo.
After consulting the school, the Defensor del Pueblo concluded that the route was being operated correctly. Jiménez’s family disputes that assessment, arguing that the way the service is operated does not resolve their concerns about the journey. The route is a school-bus service, distinct from rail issues covered in an earlier transport report.
The complaint comes amid other reports about adapted school transport in Andalucía. On 26 October, Diario de Huelva reported that PSOE Andalusian parliamentarian Francisco Baluffo said two disabled children from San Silvestre de Guzmán and Villanueva de los Castillejos had gone more than a month without the adapted transport they received the previous school year. The supplied reporting contains no response from the Junta de Andalucía or the route 211 operator to the families’ complaints.
