School travel costs

Pupil transport is the transport of pupils on their way to school. There is only a right to school transport or reimbursement of costs for certain groups of pupils, in principle the legal guardians have to bear the costs.

An obligation to transport or a claim for reimbursement is limited to the group of persons listed in the law, i.e. children who attend a school kindergarten or who take part in special language support measures as well as pupils in grades 1 to 10 of general education schools and 11th and 12th grades of schools for pupils with intellectual disabilities, Basic vocational training year, vocational preparation year, class 1 of vocational schools without secondary school leaving certificate.

The districts and independent cities, as providers of school transport, have to transport the persons concerned living in their area to school under reasonable conditions or to reimburse them or their legal guardians for the necessary expenses for the way to school.

In principle, the obligation to transport or reimburse only applies to the way to the next school of the chosen type of school.

The providers of school transport are responsible for determining the manner in which they comply with this transport or reimbursement obligation. In doing so, they can specify both the mode of transport (school buses, public transport) and the minimum distance between home and school from which the transport or reimbursement obligation exists. This is used in different ways; As a rule, the distances are set between about 2 and 5 km, depending on age and local conditions.