East Otago Coachways drivers at East Otago High School on
the last day of the high school bus service on Tuesday are,
(from left to right) John McLew, Isobel McLew, Ray
Birtwhistle, Clarrie Porter, Ian Harkness, Neil McLew,
Eileen Birtwhistle, Terry Mitchell and Doug Brocket.
The founders of East Otago Coachlines, John and Isobel
McLew have hung up their bus keys after 39 years of school bus
and charter bus driving in the East Otago district.
They are winding up their company and the school bus runs are
being taken over by Ritchies Coachlines. It is believed some
of their drivers will work for Ritchies.
East Otago Coachlines has an enviable safety record with only
one minor accident with a minibus, at a time when no
passengers were on board.
In 1969 Mr and Mrs McLew purchased a taxi and a school bus
run on Horse Range Rd and Switchback Rd north of Palmerston.
The taxi service had exciting moments, Mrs McLew recalled.
On occasions it was used to take expectant mothers to the
Queen Mary Maternity hospital in Dunedin from the Palmerston
Cottage Hospital.
Later, Mr McLew's brother Eric, who had previously operated
the Pigroot bus service, took over the rural delivery and
taxi service and East Otago Coachways began its first major
school bus run, from Morrisons and Dunback to Palmerston.
The East Otago High School opened at Palmerston in 1969 and
as the roll grew quickly, East Otago Coachways grew with it.
Bus runs were added to Karitane, the Kilmog, past Dunback up
the Pigroot, and to Waikouaiti. The Moeraki school bus run
was taken over some years later and extended to Hampden.
Services were contracted by the then Otago Education Board,
which would pay only for one service a day from the Pigroot
to East Otago High School and return. This meant that the bus
had to be left in the open at the end of the Pigroot run.
The Palmerston based bus driver travelled out to his school
bus in the morning and back to Palmerston at night in an old
Ford van.
In winter, the bus was often "frozen up" in the morning and
had to be towed with a farmer's tractor to start it. The run
to Palmerston was mostly downhill so the bus did not warm up
along the way, much to the discomfort of pupils.
Mr McLew invited an Otago Education Board Transport officer
to travel on the morning school bus trip from the Pigroot to
Palmerston. Mr McLew was dressed warmly, including an
overcoat, while the Education Board official arrived in a
suit. It was an extremely cold day.
The official was blue with cold when he boarded the bus and
no warmer by the time he returned to Palmerston. The
education board agreed almost immediately to the bus
returning to Palmerston each day, so the pupils had a warm
bus when they boarded.
Demand resulted in East Otago Coachways gaining a contract
licence allowing it to take passengers to sports fixtures and
functions and in 1975 it secured the right to run trips all
over New Zealand.
The trips were popular and sometimes booked out. Mr and Mrs
McLew both went on the South Island bus tours and shared the
driving.
The McLews give a great deal of the credit for the safety
record of East Otago Coachlines to their drivers.
Ritchies Coachlines Ltd would be operating the
Palmerston-based school and charter services from the
beginning of term one 2009, Ritchies Coachlines regional
manager Malcolm Budd, of Dunedin, said.
East Otago Coachways did not tender for a new contract on its
school bus runs.
Mr Budd said the high standard of service and safety record
of East Otago Coachways was well known in the Bus and Coach
association.
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