Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Bus fare hikes hit families

Bay of Plenty Times
7 Feb, 2016 05:24 AM5 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Photo/file

Photo/file

If you want to find where happy parents congregate, try the school gates on the first day after the long summer school holidays. You might notice more than just an elevated mood or two.

A wide grin, a skip in the step, stopping just at a fist pump as we get back in the cars, alone, to rev off to the nearest coffee shop. Alone.

Not that we don't love our children, but sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. For the children too, who all seemed happy to get back in their routines.

Annemarie Quill
Annemarie Quill

Mine certainly didn't seem to want me to linger at the drop off. My son instructed me as usual not to wear my sunglasses into his classroom which he said was "weird".

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

I told him I couldn't see without them as they were my prescription glasses.

He didn't care and said "people looked".

Would they rather I crashed blindly into them?

At least it was only sunglasses he had to worry about.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Last week NZME reported that in the UK a school principal had taken a stand after witnessing parents wearing their pyjamas, slippers and dressing gowns at the school gates.

Kate Chisholm, head of Skerne Park Academy in Darlington in the UK, sent a letter to parents in January, asking parents when escorting their children to "take the time to dress in daywear that is suitable for the weather conditions".

She added that it was important to set children an example of what was acceptable and appropriate in all aspects of life.

Read more: $8m boost for Bay schools

Discover more

Red hot housing market going gangbusters: agent

07 Feb 07:33 PM

Events for everyone at sell-out Katikati A&P extravaganza

07 Feb 08:37 PM

There may be times when needs must and we shouldn't judge.

One rushed morning I couldn't find my shoes and slipped on a pair of white towelling spa slippers, leaving me shuffling through the gates like I had just stepped out of an institution.

But for the most part, I think it is reasonable to expect parents to put on clothes when dropping their children off.

However, some of the parents at the Darlington school took umbrage with the letter, one wearing red pyjamas with snowflakes on the next day and another mum taking her children out of the school saying it was "double standards" and questioned what sort of example the principal herself was setting when "she's already tall and she wears high heels" reported the UK's Daily Mail.

As far as schools here go, there are no rules I am aware of that extend to how parents should dress.

I would imagine most principals have bigger issues to worry about than whether parents are wearing Louboutins or lounge slippers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Some principals might be worrying more how children are getting to school.

Or if they are going to turn up at all.

This term school bus fares have increased from $1.15 to $1.51 for a child/student fare for a Smartride concession trip on the BayHopper and SchoolHopper.

One trip without the concession card now costs $1.90.

This might not sound a lot but it mounts up, particularly for those with large families.

Some Bay principals fear the hikes will hit families hard, restricting options to attend school. In November Tauranga Boys' College principal Robert Mangan told our reporter Carmen Hall that the school was using hardship funds on occasions to help students who were walking up to 4.5km to and from school.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Otumoetai College principal Dave Randell said the school had lost out-of-zone enrolments because parents could not afford bus fares.

One parent with just two children said it would cost him $1200 just to send his children to school.

In my view, this is unacceptable and the Ministry of Education's decision to withdraw funding last year ending Tauranga's free school buses was wrong on several counts.

Firstly because children have the fundamental right to education and raising the cost to get to school could mean some families struggle to get them there.

Secondly, because of concerns about the number of cars on the road, if parents turn back to dropping their children off, traffic will be even more gridlocked than usual.

This certainly seemed the case this week when I dropped the children off (yes by car), on Turret Rd, traffic was at a standstill both ways, there was more than a number of cars I spotted like me with one child in, and I spotted a fair few half empty buses.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Perhaps the Ministries of Education and Transport need to put their heads together because what may seem like a saving in one area could be very costly in others. If parents feel strongly there are outlets to express views. You can write to us - editor@bayofplentytimes.co.nz - to your school, to the Ministry of Education, and local MPs.

With local council elections this year and a general election the following, education is sure to be a hot issue and no doubt parents will be voting with their feet, slippers or no slippers.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

04 Jul 02:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

Bay of Plenty Times

'A f****** ugly mess': Gang boss' text after fatal hotbox attack on mate of 20 years

04 Jul 12:24 AM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

04 Jul 02:00 AM

Peter was trapped under a tractor for hours on his Mangakino farm.

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

Farmer's harrowing hours crushed beneath tractor

'A f****** ugly mess': Gang boss' text after fatal hotbox attack on mate of 20 years

'A f****** ugly mess': Gang boss' text after fatal hotbox attack on mate of 20 years

04 Jul 12:24 AM
Traffic concerns grow as Tauriko roading developments advance

Traffic concerns grow as Tauriko roading developments advance

03 Jul 11:48 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP