Tūrangi parents upset about private school bus service

A Tūrangi Coachlines 1980 Mercedes-Benz coach that is part of the fleet transporting school children each day from Tūrangi to Taupō. Photo / Rachel Canning

Standing up for 40 minutes on the bus makes for a long and tiring school day for some Tūrangi students.

A breakdown of one of the coaches on the private bus service between Tūrangi and Taupō last Monday had members of Facebook page @Tūrangi Noticeboard debating the issue of providing transport to students who elect to travel to Taupō each day for their education.

Parents pay $70 per week per child to private service provider Tūrangi Rentals who operate Tūrangi Coachlines. Owner John Morshead says they are regulated by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Authority (NZTA) as it is a private service. Other school bus services in New Zealand are operated and regulated by the Ministry of Education (MOE).

However, John says the company voluntarily follows MOE guidelines and says he has a good channel of communication with MOE.

Parent Manaia Blaikie says she is concerned about the wellbeing of the children travelling on the bus to school and back each day. Her main concerns are that the driver is constantly being distracted by the passengers, the buses are freezing in the winter and unbearably hot in the summer.

She says the driver has to cope with misbehaving students and the parents have no idea because they don't receive feedback. John acknowledges there is no formal communication channel between the bus company and the paying parents of the passengers, neither does the bus company communicate to the parents via the schools.

John says when it comes to the students' behaviour on the bus, Tūrangi Rentals really need support from the schools, however being a private service there is a different relationship.

"At times we have rung parents to inform them about their child's behaviour. Sometimes I have had to go and give the kids a tune-up, it lasts about a week and then they go again.

"If a child has been misbehaving then we have refused to pick them up. Having said that, if we take them up in the morning then we have got to bring them back in the afternoon."

Tūrangi Rentals owner John Morshead. Photo / Tūrangi Rentals

Having been a bus driver himself John says he knows how easy it is for the students to distract the driver.

"The kids need to know they can't distract the driver. Parents always say there is something wrong with the bus or the driver but will never accept there is something wrong with their kid's [behaviour].

"The first objective of the driver is to keep the bus safe but it doesn't take much of a distraction to get the bus in the wrong place."

Last week the sealant on the bus windows had dried out causing them to leak and making the seats wet, with some students having to stand. Manaia says in this weather her children wear thick jackets to stay warm and sit on newspaper to stay dry. However, John says there were enough dry seats on the bus and the children stand because they want to talk to their mates.

Manaia says in the summer the bus is unbearably hot and the children want to sit by the vent at the back. If they miss out, then they have to sit in the heat.

"At times the driver has pulled over to give the children a break so they can get out and have some fresh air."

At one stage Manaia had three children on the bus. She says issues are ongoing and questions why the students are being driven around in buses that she estimates are at least 30 years old.

Parent Mereana Aranga says her boy comes home with headaches from the engine noise.

"In summer the bus is stinking hot and in winter the seats are wet. It's been like this for a long time."

Mereana estimates last year more than half a dozen times the bus failed to arrive for the morning pick-up.

"Thankfully the kids have cell phones, otherwise there is no communication and the kids are left in the street waiting to be picked up," said Mereana.

The buses are equipped with E-road software, showing where buses are located at any one time. John says the drivers all have mobile phones and communicate with the depot when the bus breaks down.

"We didn't communicate with the parents when the fan belt broke [last week] but we did have a replacement bus on the road within minutes. It happened at Mission Bay and the passengers were only delayed 15 minutes."

Some of the Mercedes-Benz buses in the fleet are 40 years old and John says if parents want to pay a lot more money they could buy a better bus. He says the students are really hard on the bus interior, ripping out the backs of seats and drawing on the seats with marker pen.

John says the buses are due for replacement and he is looking, but yet to find an option that is economically viable. He says maintenance costs are high and gives a fairly recent example of students from a private Auckland college who opened the emergency exit hatch.

"It's in a paddock somewhere between here and Patetonga. It cost $2000 to replace."

Ministry of Education infrastructure service Kim Shannon said the ministry could provide support to parents in instances where issues need to be raised with NZTA. She strongly encouraged parents to contact their school in the first instance.