Source: Radio New Zealand
School bags lined up at a Kelvin Heights bus stop in Queenstown. RNZ / Katie Todd
- The Ministry of Education has been reviewing its school bus services in Queenstown with seven routes set to be redesigned from Term 2, 2026, one cancelled, one added and 11 retained on an ‘interim’ basis.
- One principal says about 90 students in Fernhill will lose access to their bus.
- Otago Regional Council says the public network may not have the capacity at peak times.
- Emails released under the OIA show schools and parents warned public buses were not a safe or practical alternative.
The Ministry of Education has decided to keep most of Queenstown’s school buses for now, despite finding most students are not eligible for the free services.
It signalled last year that routes could be cut where public buses already exist – sparking pushback from parents and principals worried about student safety and attendance.
The ministry said seven routes would be redesigned and 11 would continue on an interim basis from Term 2, 2026, until it found a long-term fix.
One school bus route to KingsView School and Remarkables Primary School would be cancelled, and one new route would be added servicing Shotover School, it said.
Ministry of Education school transport group manager James Meffan said many students using ministry-funded services in Queenstown were not eligible, either because there was public transport already available, or they were not attending their closest school.
“We are continuing to work with Otago Regional Council on a longer term, sustainable solution for these students and expect to provide an update next year,” he said.
The interim services would support a “smooth transition” for those ineligible students, he said.
However, Queenstown Primary School principal Fiona Cavanagh said the changes would leave dozens of students living in the suburb of Fernhill without access to a school bus.
Their bus route had been redesigned to pick up students in the Bob’s Cove area instead, she said.
Cavanagh said she had asked the ministry to revisit that decision, saying the bus could collect Fernhill students with only a small diversion.
“We have approximately 90 students that are currently catching a school bus from Fernhill. Fernhill is on a hill, and the roads are very busy and public transport would be busy as well,” she said.
“So for our students to catch a bus, a public bus in that area, it just wouldn’t work.”
The public buses stopped in central Queenstown rather than taking students directly to school, she said.
“We are asking the ministry to consider them being dropped off outside our school, rather than in town, because we’re a very unique community in terms of nightclubs, people around in the main city centre, all hours of the day. I don’t want my students to be exposed to that.”
Meanwhile, Otago Regional Council said it did not believe there was enough capacity on the public bus network at peak times, based on its understanding of the number of students affected by the proposals.
It was urging parents in the Queenstown district to plan ahead when using public transport to get their children to school.
Regional Planning and Transport general manager Anita Dawe said the council would work closely with the ministry and affected schools to make sure parents had information about the availability of public buses.
The council was not able to replace school bus services as they were currently delivered, she said.
“Some schools are not on public bus routes; so we expect to receive requests to redesign routes or add in special school term bus services. Currently, we’re not in a position to do this, due to resource constraints, both financially and in terms of the availability of buses and drivers,” she said.
Parents raise safety and cost concerns
The ministry’s review of Queenstown school bus services sparked at least 22 emails to Education Minister Erica Stanford and Southland MP Joseph Mooney from concerned community members last year.
The emails, released under the Official Information Act, showed parents were nervous about their primary-aged children using public buses without adult supervision – especially those without mobile phones.
One parent detailed concerns about their children crossing two busy highways to reach a public bus stop, while another said public buses were often cancelled.
“This will leave students on the side of the road with no way of knowing where the bus is or with means to contact their parents,” they wrote.
Another writer said paying for public buses would place extra financial pressure on families.
“Families with two children are paying $6 a day on transport to and from school. Over the course of a year, this adds up to $1140, which is an unreasonable cost for many households,” they said.
Taking time out of work to drive children to school was no better, other parents wrote.
“I need to work to survive and how can I do that if the alternative to the public bus is driving them in and out for school every day? That is just not possible!” one said.
“Less time working means less tax revenue. Are we really saving by cutting the school bus?” another said.
One parent said the changes could also worsen traffic congestion, already a major issue in Queenstown.
Mooney summarised the concerns he had received and wrote to Stanford seeking her support “in ensuring that the Ministry fully understands the implications of any decision to remove school buses in Queenstown”.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
