Source: Radio New Zealand
123rf.com
- Parents feel the effect of Ministry of Education-funded school bus route reviews
- One mother’s petrol bill jumps from $120 a week to $300 a week now her son can’t catch a bus
- Ministry says reviews are routine, to make sure transport funding is fair and efficient
- Officials back down from changes in Gisborne, RNZ understands.
A mother who now has to make two one-hour round trips to get her son to school every day says her petrol bill has tripled to more than $300 a week.
Becs Barr said her son Murphy is no longer eligible for a government-funded bus to school, after the Ministry of Education reviewed routes in the wider Manawatū region last year.
Officials said such reviews are routine and ensure compliance with its rules, such as students going to their nearest school.
It had recently undertaken such a review in the Gisborne area, but today it’s understood officials have backed down from changes that were to take effect from the start of the second school term, in April.
Fuel bill triples
For Murphy Barr’s first three years at Palmerston North Boys’ High School, getting to and from his home near the Horowhenua town of Shannon was easy – he’d catch the bus.
But this year, his fourth at the high school, he’s had to rely on his mum Becs for transport, after he was ruled ineligible to catch a ministry-funded service because Boys’ High isn’t his closest school.
“I have to take him to school each day, travel by car, and then turn around and come all the way back pretty much nearly to home to then go in the other direction to go to my job.
“I’ve now have lost an hour each morning at my job and I’ve also tripled my fuel bill.”
That bill has gone from $120 a week last year to more than $300 a week before the price hikes of the past few days.
When Becs Barr was recently sick, Murphy had to drive to Palmerston North, just two weeks after getting his restricted licence, to make sure he got to class.
Shannon parents and caregivers were looking at user-pays options, like families in some Manawatū towns Rongotea and Tangimoana had organised, Becs Barr said.
She was particularly displeased to often follow the funded-school bus into town as it transported students still deemed eligible to catch it.
“The bus which he would normally have got still leaves from exactly the same spot it used to and still takes children to their colleges in Palmerston North, but it won’t take Palmy Boys’ or Palmy Girls’ [students].”
Murphy Barr is set on becoming a helicopter engineer, and his Becs Barr said Palmerston North Boys’ High offered the best courses to help him achieve this.
The family made the decision to send him there knowing a funded bus was then available, and with no reason to think they wouldn’t fall within rules that weren’t being enforced.
“We’re fighting against a government that’s saying, ‘Get your children to school’. On the other hand they’re saying, ‘We’re not going to help you. We’re actually going to make it harder.’
“Do I quit my job to go on the dole and claim lots of benefits, so I can have more money to get my child to school. Is that what they want to happen?”
Reviews routine – ministry
The ministry has reviewed more than 250 routes nationwide, including in Manawatū, Northland and Hawke’s Bay.
General manager school transport James Meffan said such reviews were a routine, ongoing part of its work.
“We generally give schools at least a term’s notice of any changes to their school bus services,” he said.
“We notified the schools affected by the Palmerston North area review of the final outcome of our review on 17 September 2025. It is the school’s responsibility to notify their communities of school bus changes.”
The ministry funded buses from Shannon for students attending the closest high school, in Levin, and for those at state-integrated religious schools.
Eligibility criteria for buses were to make sure funding was allocated fairly and efficiently, Meffan said.
“The ministry’s bus operators can choose whether to transport ineligible students on ministry-funded services, as long as the student has permission from the school/s they are bypassing and there are enough seats for all students.
“We understand that the bus operator has elected not to carry ineligible students at this time.”
Biggest frustration in 14 years as school head
Palmerston North Boys’ High School rector David Bovey said about 300 students at the school were affected by bus route changes.
The school was looking at options for students. At times, some weren’t able to get to school.
“We’re having some families that are are making significant sacrifices to get their boys to school and it doesn’t always work.
“We had one situation where you could tell by the tone of the e-mail the mum was really, really frustrated, and had a bit of a crack at us because the car wouldn’t start and she couldn’t get her boy to school from Shannon.
“I feel for her because I’m right behind her. It’s it’s bloody tough.”
Bovey said the changes were a disaster.
“This has been the single most frustrating thing I’ve had to deal with in terms of our boys since I’ve been the rector, and that’s in 14 years.
“I know that they’re saying ‘it’s the policy’. So why now? The policy has been ignored for about 100 years,” he said.
“The government’s spending money on charter schools that we don’t need, and we’ve got kids who can’t get to the school they want to go to because of the bus situation.”
Backdown after Gisborne review
Rural students near Gisborne from term two faced the same challenges in getting to school after the ministry reviewed routes there.
Gisborne Boys’ High School headmaster Tom Cairns said the school had about 75 students who were no longer eligible for a funded bus, and other schools were affected too. Many came from isolated, rural communities, where families would struggle to travel into town.
But now RNZ understands the ministry has reversed course and services will stay as they are, a decision Cairns welcomed.
“We’re very pleased with the outcome. To reverse that shows that somebody is listening and has seen some sense.
“The really pleasing thing is they’ve recognised there’s an issue, and a significant one, and have acted on that.”
RNZ has approached the ministry on Tuesday for comment on the Gisborne situation.
Meffan had previously said: “Our recent review of routes in the Gisborne area showed that many students currently using our services are not eligible, either because public transport is available or because they are not attending their closest school.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
