Broad Bay parent Jason Graham said only four Tahuna Intermediate pupils, two Bayfield High School pupils and one Otago Girls’ High School pupil used the bus service on the first day of term 2 yesterday.
‘‘Basically, it backs up our survey statistics.
‘‘The survey showed that if no changes were made to the bus route or schedule, very few children would use the service.’’
He said it appeared parents had now given up on the bus service and started a car-pooling network to get their children to school.
‘‘There’s about 70 or 80 kids who have got to get to school, and if there’s only a few on the bus, then the rest are going by car.
‘‘The big loser in this is the ORC because they’re not going to get as much revenue.’’
In a letter to the Otago Daily Times, ORC councillor Michael Deaker said he travelled on the peninsula bus service yesterday, to reassure himself that pupils who lived on the peninsula could use the public transport system safely and conveniently.
‘‘I went out to Macandrew Bay. It took less than a minute to go on the ORC website, tell the Journey Planner that I wanted to get to Tahuna Intermediate, and receive three options set out in detail.
‘‘I chose the option that had me arriving at school at 8.20am. I caught the number 18 bus at Macandrew Bay at 7.42am.
‘‘It was great to see Tahuna Intermediate principal Tony Hunter waiting for the bus at Anderson Bay Rd.
‘‘He wanted to make sure his pupils knew how to make the transfer safely and where the bus shelters were. They did.
‘‘Tony met us when we arrived at school too. As a caring school leader I hope he can now feel confident that his peninsula students are well served by the public transport system.
‘‘I am now reassured that those peninsula boys and girls are able to get to and from the schools of their choice in a safe and timely manner, using the existing public transport services.’’
Otago Peninsula Community Board chairman Paul Pope described the letter as ‘‘just ridiculous’’.
‘‘Honestly, how deep in the sand do those councillors’ heads have to be?
‘‘I’m frustrated by the attitude Michael’s got and with other [ORC] councillors.
‘‘I just don’t think they fully understand what we’re trying to achieve here.’’
Mr Graham and Mr Pope will make a presentation to the Dunedin City Council today, in the hope of explaining the situation to DCC councillors.
It was hoped it would encourage the councillors to support Cr Aaron Hawkins’ resolution, which asks the DCC to acknowledge the concern of the peninsula communities around bus access for pupils; and calls on the ORC to accommodate their request for minor amendments to schedules and routes.
Mr Pope said a petition calling for the minor amendments, signed by more than 900 people, would be presented to the ORC on May 16.
‘‘Hopefully we’ll have an angry mob with burning torches and pitchforks there this time — that’s if they can get the bus to town.’’
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Comments
Living at Broad Bay and having two kids who need to go to town for school we need a bus service that takes our kids safely to the school that they need to get to. They shouldn't need to transfer buses but get dropped at the front of the school. As a parent I want to know that when I put my kid on the bus it is taking them to school not to another bus stop where they have to get off and wait for the next bus. Last term it was 40$ for ONE child to get the bus to school and back each week. The buses were always pretty full even with the ridiculous price. Is it right that I should pay 80$ a week for my two kids for transport to school in Dunedin? Even that was better than this ,at least the bus took them straight to school. Regards Angry Ratepayer
On the bright side, people discovered that a car can move more than one person at a time and maybe even became friends with their neighbours.
To be serious I don't understand why ORC wouldnt make a minor change - but anger and yelling of Peninsula community is equally annoying. C'mon folks you have Portobello and Broad Bay schools right in your suburbs and you complain that city bus won't take kids straight to the doors of some other random school in the city at convenient time?
And when aforementioned local schools will close because of small roll numbers, will you also blame the authorities?
Maybe ORC just doesn't want to create a precedent. If they give in then other communities as far as Brighton or Mosgiel (not more distant and more populated than Portobello) will have valid ground to demand direct city bus to Tahuna school or anywhere else.