The ACT Party is proposing a change to school transport rules that would allow children to board any passing school bus, provided there is available space.
At present, students are only eligible for free school bus transport if they attend the nearest school they can enrol at and if they live more than 3.2 km from their primary school or intermediate, or more than 4.8 km from their high school.
ACT MP Andrew Hoggard said that in some rural areas, families were “burning fuel” driving their children to school despite buses travelling past with empty seats.
“Fuel isn’t cheap, time isn’t free, and rural families have better things to be doing than running a second transport system because of a Wellington rulebook.”
Hoggard said the current settings do not reflect the realities of rural living, where families choose schools for a range of reasons beyond location.
“The bus is already running. The seat is already paid for. Let the kid on. We should be using what we’ve already got, not making families pay taxes for a bus that leaves their kid stranded.”
He said that if routes became full and additional buses were needed, the Education Ministry could fund them from its existing budget.
“It doesn’t need another review or working group. It just needs a bit of common sense,” he said.
“We want diesel in tractors, not wasted on school runs that shouldn’t be needed.”