“It’s going to be a mission for the whānau, which is why we are trying to help out.”
Ministry of Education group manager of transport James Meffon confirmed Tutira was also part of a Bay View route review and will be cancelled at the end of Term 4, 2024, due to fewer than eight eligible students, with the schools notified on July 3.
He said to qualify for a school bus, “there must be eight or more students who meet the ministry’s eligibility criteria on a particular route”.
The Te Pōhue community was granted an extension to the end of Term 4, 2024, to make alternative arrangements to replace the two routes they are set to lose.
The chairman of Te Pōhue and Districts Community Charitable Trust, Norm Brown, said he was disappointed with the decision to terminate the bus routes after an audit in May last year found patronage did not reach the Government’s required threshold for a service to run.
Brown said he was recently made aware that other rural areas would be impacted and said it was a “total disruption to families”.
“It winds the whole community down. If they can’t school their kids, they go to town.”
Brown said the lack of bus routes would make it difficult for families, who would need to decide on where they could live, due to the changes in bus routes.
“You have got potentially 400 kids sitting on the side of the road at the beginning of next year wondering where they are going.”
Resident KC Jordan has a child attending Te Pōhue School and a high schooler.
Both currently get picked up from the end of her driveway by the bus, but she said in April the potential change could mean up to two hours of extra driving a day for her to get her children to school.
“I think it is about six kilometres to the next high school bus and for the primary school bus I may as well drop her off directly to school,” Jordan said.
“If we lose our buses, we are going to lose our primary school up here and that is a blow to quite a tight-knit community.”
When Hawke’s Bay Today spoke to Jordan in July she was aware of the extension but said it still didn’t leave enough time to find an appropriate solution.
”We have enough children to catch the bus, but they don’t go to the closest schools.”
She felt it was taking the choice away from the students’ education and believed there should not be zoning for any schools.
Napier MP Katie Nimon said she was not aware of every change that was happening it was an “operational decision for the local Ministry of Education office”.
“There are some changes that the community and schools have brought to my attention for advice and help.”
She said people had reached out to ask what they can do, but said the issue was “not new”.
“Bearing in mind my previous role having run a school bus company, I do have experience in this and I have seen it all happen before.”
Nimon said it was important for children to get to school and understood some were bypassing the nearest school to go to “a school of choice”.
She said Te Pōhue was a great example of a community that had worked together to find an appropriate and potential solution.
“They are exploring great options and the Ministry of Education doesn’t have to be the sole provider of transport and they are looking at community-led options.”
Bay View and Clive to lose school buses after review
Cancelled services also include five school bus services from Bay View and three school bus services from Clive.
The affected schools include Napier Girls’ High School, Napier Boys’ High School, St Patrick’s School, Napier Intermediate and Westshore School.
Two bus services would be restricted to eligible students who attended Eskdale School, Sacred Heart College and William Colenso.
Meffan said changes to the public transport network in Napier meant they needed to take a look at all of the ministry school bus services.
“Over time there have been changes in the location of eligible students and the schooling network that may have affected the status of these school bus routes.”
Reviews of school bus services are also occurring in other places across the country and Meffan said “the ministry does not undertake route reviews with the specific intention of saving costs”.
“Our review found that a number of students currently using our services are actually ineligible for school transport assistance as either they are not attending their closest school or there is public transport available.”
Meffan said it was up to each school to notify their caregivers and communities of the confirmed changes to their school bus services.
“We may be able to help where distance and/or accessibility may be a barrier for students attending their closest state or state-integrated school.”
Eligibility criteria for Ministry of Education school transport assistance
There are three criteria that students must meet to qualify for school transport assistance:
1. The student must attend their closest state or state-integrated school.
2. The student must live more than a certain distance from the school:
- Years 1-8: At least 3.2km
- Years 9-13: At least 4.8km
3. There must be no suitable public transport options.
Michaela Gower joined Hawke’s Bay Today in 2023 and is based out of the Hastings and Central Hawke’s Bay newsrooms. She covers Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay news and has a love for sharing stories about farming and rural communities.
