By MIKE MATHER in Rotorua
A ROTORUA bus company has apologised to the family of an eight-year-girl who walked home alone from school this week when she was caught out by an increase in fares.
The Rotorua Primary School student walked all the way from the central city
to her Western Heights home on Tuesday, when she discovered she was 50c short for the new fare.
Her father, Joe Williams, is furious about the incident, which he describes as a frightening experience that has shaken his daughter's self confidence.
Olive Bushett-Williams had regularly caught the bus home for the last three months of the 2004 school year, after being taught how by her parents.
However, her new year of commuting to and from school got off to the worst start possible this week when she discovered her regular bus fare had risen from $1.50 to $2.
She went back to school, only to find the main gate locked. Not knowing what to do, she began to walk home.
It was only by chance that her father was driving past Rotorua Hospital, when he saw his distraught daughter on the footpath.
"When I found out what had happened to her, I just saw red," said Mr Williams. "The first thing I thought about was all those Theresa Cormacks and things that have happened. I was one mad dad."
Mr Williams said he had called Reesby Buslines and Environment Bay of Plenty after returning home.
"I eventually got hold of a guy who did not want to know about it. When I asked for the bus driver's name he started to get a little cagey.
"I'm a really staunch patron of the buses and I realise a lot of the drivers are under immense pressure to keep to schedule ... [but] I really would have thought they would have let this one go, especially as she is so young."
Olive's mother Pauline Bushett, who works in central Rotorua, said she was also alarmed by the incident.
"She was doing really well with riding the buses by herself and this has really knocked her confidence.
"I gave her the money for the fare that morning and I had no idea it had gone up. She was not going to intentionally diddle them out of 50c. You would have thought they would have had some discretion and let it go."
Reesby's owner David Reesby said the bus driver had been spoken to about the incident and it appeared to have been a misunderstanding.
"He said the little girl went on board. He told her the fare had gone up to $2, but then she turned around and hopped off before he could say anything else. She wandered off and he never saw her again.
Mr Reesby said the company had sent the family a free smartcard as a goodwill gesture.
Drivers had been instructed to contact the company office if people did not have enough for the new fares.
"There's been about 30 so far. They have all been genuine cases, people caught out by the fare rise, so we have not had any problem with that."
Environment Bay of Plenty's transport policy manager Garry Maloney said he would like to apologise to the family.
"It's certainly a very regretful incident ... If it was my daughter I would be very upset myself.
"We have signalled for a while [the price] was going up on February 1 ... but I agree there should be some sort of leeway or grace period."
By MIKE MATHER in Rotorua
A ROTORUA bus company has apologised to the family of an eight-year-girl who walked home alone from school this week when she was caught out by an increase in fares.
The Rotorua Primary School student walked all the way from the central city
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