Hawke’s Bay community ‘very angry’ over cuts to rural school bus routes

The loss of rural school bus routes has left residents of a Hawke’s Bay settlement furious at what they say is a lack of consultation by the Government, with some students now questioning whether they should continue their education.

Te Pōhue is located approximately 40 minutes drive from Napier. Following a review by the Ministry of Education, nine rural bus routes that take students to Napier and Hastings will be suspended and three others restructured.

Parent Michelle Codd told 1News the move could harm her children’s educational future.

“You can’t expect me to drive my son, you know, realistically two hours a day into the city and then drive back home and then go to work… and then do all that again in the afternoon,” he said.

“They are making me decide whether or not my 17-year-old daughter goes back to last year because we don’t have that bus now.”

“If I don’t mind using a little language, I’m very angry,” another local told 1News.

Janela Condonore said the decision was “just disappointing.”

“Our rural communities depend on them, especially if our children cannot go to boarding school.”

The Ministry of Education said it only provides buses as a last resort and that Te Pōhue students do not go to the nearest school or have no other transport available.

According to the Ministry, William Colenso College in Napier is the closest for Te Pōhue students.

However, the other Napier schools where students are currently enrolled are only a few minutes further away.

“We are required by policy to serve only eligible students, so we apply a variety of eligibility criteria,” explained James Meffan of the Ministry.

“Wherever we draw a line… some people won’t win and some people will. It’s always disappointing to be on the wrong side of that line.”

Of the approximately 1,400 daily bus routes contracted by the ministry across the country, 1News can reveal that 130 have been revised since the start of the first quarter of this year. The nine Hastings bus routes alone affect more than 350 students.

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst was unhappy with the lack of consultation. She said the Department for Education should be talking to communities and working out effective solutions for a school transport system, rather than making “blanket cuts just for the sake of it”.

“I would like the ministry to come to our communities and talk to us to see how we can find a solution and how we can get our children to school,” he said.

Meffan said that because the eligibility criteria are so clear, the ministry is not consulting in the sense of seeking permission to make the changes.

Codd said her only option at this point was to refer the matter back to the Ministry of Education. “Tell me what you want me to do with my son.”

The nine affected bus lines will continue to operate until the end of the year.