Rejigged school bus service revealed

A school bus picks up children from Dickson Rd in Papamoa. Photo/file

Alarmed parents have forced the Bay of Plenty Regional Council to back down on its controversial proposal to slash dedicated school bus services from 45 to 11.

The council has announced that services would be maintained to 1160 students - 290 fewer than using the SchoolHopper service.

Its original plan to force most affected college and intermediate students to catch BayHopper rather than SchoolHopper services met with strong opposition, including a 700-signature petition.

The report to yesterday's public transport committee meeting said the new proposal would cost the council $200,000 a year - $660,000 less than the existing service.

A further $30,000 would be spent on a trial involving crossing guards where students who used BayHopper buses would have to cross busy roads to reach school.

And $100,000 extra would be spent on an education programme to improve the safety of students using BayHopper buses. It was particularly aimed at intermediate aged children.

Operating costs for the new service would be $1.1m a year - $1.5m less than the current service. The majority of savings would come from reducing the number of services and kilometres travelled.

"This means that bus loadings are expected to be much higher and students would generally have longer distances to walk to reach their nearest school bus stop.''

Council transport policy manager Garry Maloney said all schools were ''generally supportive" of the proposal to provide services to Year 7 and 8 students.

He said eight of the 15 schools impacted by the changes supported the proposal to increase school bus services from 11 to about 25. A further three schools were seeking clarification from staff and four special character (religious) schools were holding meetings with parents.

Mr Maloney said the numbers may have to be reworked because of demand and changing school rolls.

The report said that of the 290 students likely to lose services, 100 may be eligible for Ministry of Education transport assistance.

One hundred of the 290 students attended Tauranga Girls' and Boys' Colleges and 40 Otumoetai College. The majority lived on a direct public bus route to their school and the rest were "largely served" by the public bus network.

Where BayHopper services were already at capacity, the council intended to put on extra buses to carry students. The new plan for Tauranga Intermediate would see these "shadow buses" effectively become dedicated school buses.

Tauranga City Council appointee to the committee Terry Molloy said it was a logical way forward. "Let's back it."

Changes to Tauranga's public bus network meant that students living east of Sandhurst Drive, Papamoa, would become eligible for Ministry of Education transport assistance.

The regional council was working with the city council on requests from schools to improve walking and cycling facilities, particularly pedestrian crossings.

City Council growth and infrastructure manager Christine Jones said they were doing work so that infrastructure aligned with the new services.

Proposed new school bus plan for Tauranga
Students carried: 1160 (currently 1450)
Bus kilometres travelled each day: 780km (currently 1700km)
Average bus loading: 44 students (currently 32)
Subsidy per passenger: $370 (currently $1200)
Fare revenue: $700,000 (currently $1m)