Source: Radio New Zealand
Nikita Walker, pictured with her daughter Jasmine. RNZ/Jimmy Ellingham
A user-pays bus service for Manawatū children no longer eligible for government-funded services to schools in Palmerston North will stop at the end of the coming school term, starting Monday.
The company that runs the service, Uzabus, has cited low usage and rising costs.
Some children in country areas of Manawatū were, from the start of the year, ruled ineligible for buses funded by the Ministry of Education into the city for schooling after officials reviewed routes for compliance with its policies.
Some teens in Tangimoana and Rongotea, the ministry found, should have attended secondary school in Foxton, as that was their closest college. They’d only be eligible for a ministry-funded bus if they went to class there.
But, families were reluctant to change their children’s schools, so the community organised a user-pays bus service, which initially cost $525 a term.
Weekly passes were also available.
Early in the school year RNZ spoke to families who had taken loans or raised savings to afford the new service, but use of the service gradually dropped off, parent Nikita Walker said.
She helped get it up and running and is disappointed it will stop.
“There’s nothing else for us after that, I don’t think, unless a miracle happens,” she said.
“That was our little glimmer of hope. I don’t really know what we’re going to do.”
Walker’s daughter Jasmine attends Palmerston North Girls’ High School and didn’t want to change for her final two years.
Walker said 50 to 70 families initially used the user-pays service, but that number had halved as costs started to bite.
The service was also more expensive – a pass for term 2 was $604, an $80 rise, she said.
A Uzabus statement said the service was a trial to see if it could become a sustainable route.
“However, due to lower-than-expected usage, the service has not reached a level that allows it to continue operating viably.
“In addition, rising operating costs, particularly fuel, have further impacted the sustainability of the route,” the company said.
The bus company understood the news might be disappointing and apologised for inconvenience caused, saying it was grateful to the families who supported the trial.
The ministry has since halted reviews of bus routes, but has said changes already introduced will stay.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
