Guidelines for the 2026–2027 School Transportation Application

Application and decision deadlines

We ask that you submit your application for the new school year by May 31, 2026, at the latest. The processing time for your application is 8 weeks. This period may be extended by up to 4 weeks. Once a decision has been made, you will receive a letter within 2 weeks informing you of the outcome. This letter will state whether you are eligible for reimbursement and whether you are required to pay a copayment. 

If you submit an application during the school year, we will make a decision within twelve weeks at the latest. Expenses incurred before we received your application will never be reimbursed. Without a decision, you cannot claim reimbursement and are not entitled to use the bus or taxi transportation funded and organized by the municipality.

Absences and changes

Please notify the transportation provider in a timely manner of any absences or changes to your child’s transportation schedule, such as illness, dentist appointments, school trips, or canceled classes, and send an email to westmaasenwaal.llv@forseti.nl. You can do this by email.

Are you moving, or is your child changing schools?

Please submit a new application. You can fill out the application form using your DigiD at www.westmaasenwaal.nl/leerlingenvervoer.

Form, instructions for each question

Applicant's information

• The applicant’s address may differ from the student’s address, for example, if the student has been placed in foster care or in cases of joint custody. In cases of joint custody, this may involve two municipalities.
• For special transportation services, it is necessary to have phone numbers and an email address on hand.

Student Information

• Enter the official name as recorded by the civil registry, as well as the common name.
• Enter the address where the student is staying and from which they attend school. Sometimes this is different from the address at which the student is registered.
• You must apply for reimbursement for student transportation in the municipality where the student actually resides.

School Information

• Please specify the type of school the student attends. Also enter the address of the school location. This address may differ from the school’s mailing address.
• Students attending a regular elementary school may be eligible for transportation services for religious or philosophical reasons and/or due to a disability. We may contact you to request further information.
• If a student requires reimbursement for school transportation to attend a regular elementary school or regular secondary school due to a disability, you must include a medical certificate with your application that demonstrates the need for school transportation.

Effective date

• Effective date of transportation assistance. Transportation assistance is not provided retroactively. Expenses incurred before we received your application will never be reimbursed.

Mode of transportation

Students who are entering secondary education (including the supportive learning pathway (LWOO) or practical education (PRO)) are not eligible for compensation.

• Types of Transportation
  The basic principle is that if a student requires transportation, the costs of public transportation will be covered. Accompaniment of a student, adapted transportation, or private transportation may be permitted or deemed necessary under special circumstances.
  Each year, we assess whether the type of transportation you request is appropriate for the student and can be provided in the most cost-effective manner for the municipality. This may result in the approval of a different type of transportation or funding than what you requested.
• 
  Expert Statement If a student requires assistance or special transportation, we may request a statement from the Permanent Student Care Committee, the Assistance Committee, the Assessment Committee affiliated with the school the student attends or will attend, or the Eligibility Determination Committee.
• Transportation to mainstream schools
  Students who attend or will attend a mainstream elementary school or a mainstream secondary school (including schools offering learning support and vocational education) and who, due to a physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychological disability, require appropriate transportation, may apply to the municipality for a student transportation service.
  The need for transportation for these students must be demonstrated by a (medical) statement to be submitted. Your application must be accompanied by a transportation recommendation from the school and a statement from a doctor or specialist (not your family doctor). 

Resources

Please also indicate here whether the student uses or relies on a wheelchair (electric or manual) or other assistive devices.

General

• Student transport must align with the school hours as stated in the school plan/school guide. This means that if a student participates in activities outside school hours, no reimbursement is possible under the West Maas en Waal municipal student transport ordinance. In such cases, you must arrange for the student's pick-up or drop-off yourself.
• The necessary costs associated with weekend and holiday transportation are covered if the student is staying in a boarding school or foster home for the purpose of attending appropriate (secondary) education. If there are other reasons for this stay, such as social or medical reasons (for example, transportation from home to a medical daycare center), then the transportation costs are not eligible for reimbursement.

Distance to school

• When determining the distance between the home and the school, you must use the shortest route (one that is sufficiently accessible and safe for the student) as indicated by the ANWB route planner. If the distance exceeds 4 kilometers, you may be entitled to reimbursement of transportation costs.

Income

• 
  Threshold Amount For students attending a primary school or a school for special primary education (SBO), the cost of transportation for the first 4 kilometers remains the responsibility of the parents. Parents pay a personal contribution. This is known as the threshold amount. This threshold amount is based on the cost of public transportation. For the 2026-2027 school year, the threshold amount is €637.60.
  
  If the adjusted aggregate income (of both parents and/or partners living in the same household) for the year 2024 is less than €33,750, the threshold amount does not apply. You must provide proof of this. Request an income statement (IB60) for both parents and/or partners who share a household from the tax authorities via DigiD or by calling 0800 0543, and submit it with your application.
  If you do not include an income statement with your application form, we will notify you and give you the opportunity to submit this proof within 2 weeks.
  If we have not received a statement of income from you after this grace period, we will not process your application or we will still impose the threshold amount on you.
  
  No threshold amount will be charged for students attending a school for special (secondary) education as defined in the Expertise Centers Act, or for students attending a primary or secondary school who, due to a physical, sensory, intellectual, or psychological disability, require transportation services appropriate to their needs. The student’s disability must be documented; we may request further information regarding this.

• 
  Income-Based Contribution If you apply for transportation to an elementary school located more than 20 kilometers from the student’s home, the reimbursement will be reduced by an amount based on your financial means. This contribution is calculated using the table below.

  Income in €	Out-of-pocket cost in €
  0–44,000	nothing
  44,000–52,500	185
  52,500–61,000	825
  61,000–68,500	1.525
  68,500–78,000	2.240
  78,000–85,500	3.005
  85,500 and up	For every additional €5,000: + €720

  For incomes of €85,500 and above, the personal contribution increases by €720 for every additional €5,000 in income (
  ). This means-tested contribution is added to the threshold amount. If this causes the total parental contribution to exceed the cost of transportation, your application will be denied.

Indications

• Please indicate here whether your child has a referral under the Youth Act for, for example, after-school care at a therapeutic farm.

Significant objections

• If reimbursement for student transportation is granted, it covers the distance between the student’s home and the nearest accessible school, unless transportation to a school located further away results in lower costs for the municipality and you agree to the transportation.
• The term “accessible school” refers to a school that students are assigned to based on their physical or mental condition. The nearest accessible school does not mean that the student must actually attend that school, but rather that the student is, in principle, eligible for admission to that school. For attending a school for special elementary education or for (secondary) special education, the same applies: it must be the type of school for which the student has been referred.
• If you are applying for reimbursement for student transportation to attend a school located more than 4 kilometers from your home, even though one or more public schools or schools of a specific religious or philosophical orientation, or of the same type of education, are located closer to your home, please indicate that you have serious objections to those orientations. 

Additional comments

There may be reasons that should be taken into account when assessing and evaluating your application but that you were unable to mention in the previous questions. When answering this question, you may provide that additional information or those reasons.

In conclusion

If you have any further questions about the student transport scheme after reading the explanation, you can contact Forseti by phone at 073 760 1992 or by email at westmaasenwaal.llv@forseti.nl. The West Maas en Waal Student Transport Funding Ordinance and its associated policy rules can be found on the Government's website.