Covid 19 coronavirus: School buses back in town in Tauranga from Monday

Tauranga city centre busy under level 2.

School buses will be back on Tauranga roads on Monday but not everyone's ready to hop on.

The Ministry operates 55 daily bus services across Rotorua and Tauranga.

Of those, 28 are in Tauranga and 27 are in Rotorua - 31 service multiple schools.

Bay of Plenty Regional Council also operates Bay Hopper school bus services and is expecting capacity problems on Monday.

The Bay of Plenty Regional Council said in a statement this week that it was not authorised to take standing passengers on school buses under alert level 2.

"The majority of our school vehicles can carry a maximum loading of 36 secondary or 55 primary or intermediate students.

"For this reason, we do expect there to be capacity issues across the network. We ask that parents consider making alternative arrangements to get their child to and from school in the case that capacity is an issue on your child's bus."

The council said vehicles and surfaces would be sanitised daily.

"Bus lists must be maintained for contact tracing purposes. As per Ministry of Education advice, schools will be responsible for these lists."

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The ministry's head of education infrastructure Kim Shannon said when physical distancing was not always practical, hygiene requirements was the key priority on buses.

"Just as schools will be provided with hand sanitiser for the classroom, hand sanitisers will also be available on every vehicle for the students to use when getting on and off."

She said the ministry was satisfied buses would be "managed safely" with hygiene practices and the Ministry of Transport's cleaning guidelines "with all touchpoints cleaned after each journey (twice daily)".

"We understand some families may be anxious about their children using school transport for the first time in a while and may prefer to make other arrangements, and we respect that choice."

Te Puke High School Principal Alan Liddle. Photo / File

Sean Lett is one of those "anxious" parents. His three sons go to Tauranga Boys' College and normally take the bus from Te Puna.

However, his sons won't be going back to school for another two to three weeks, he told the Bay of Plenty Times.

Lett pulled his children out of school two weeks before they closed and is "100 per cent glad" he did now, considering the likes of the Marist College Covid-19 cluster of 95 cases in Auckland.

Lett's sons travel on buses shared with other schools, some with rolls in the thousands.

"How are you going to trace all the contacts of the bus kids with those thousands of others?" he said.

"The bus guys - some of those drivers are 75 too - look at the chances of them getting crook."

School bus in Tauranga. Photo / File

Te Puke High School principal Alan Liddle said 65 per cent of students took the bus to school.

"At this stage, we're not sure how many students intend to take the bus next week," he said.

• Covid19.govt.nz: The Government's official Covid-19 advisory website