Extra buses on some school routes are being considered for Dunedin after the start of the school year resulted in the number of children taking public transport in the city doubling last week.
However, the Otago Regional Council is warning there are limitations on the number of buses and drivers available and "contractual complications" meant it is difficult to put on extra buses at short notice.
Council general manager operations Gavin Palmer said operators and schools would need to find further solutions.
More "fine tuning" of public transport on school routes would happen in the next few weeks.
Between Tuesday and Thursday the number of child fares taken by Orbus went from 361 to 685, not counting fares from an extra service added to the 77 route between the city and Mosgiel, which was popular with pupils.
Over the week bus routes servicing several large city schools descended into what pupils and parents described as chaos. People reported being crammed into crowded buses, being unable to board full buses and having to wait for another, and some buses only being available at inconvenient times.
The problems follow the closure of a commercial school bus service that ran more than 20 dedicated school bus routes, at the end of last year.
Dr Palmer said how many pupils would take public transport this year had been unknown. The council was seeing high use of the extra services that had been put on, particularly the 40C servicing King’s and Queen’s High Schools.
Some changes and extensions had been made to some services, but they were not designed to replace the
designated school bus service, he said.
“We have had staff on-site at Green Island, which is the main transfer point for the extended services that we’ve put on to get kids to school, keeping an eye on patronage and making sure we proactively address any issues that we see."
It was exploring the possibility of putting on duplicate services with its operators, and other ways that schools might be able to collect pupils when buses became too full, he said.
"One of the difficulties is that the number of buses and drivers available is limited, and there are contractual complications that mean we can’t throw extra buses on at short notice."
He understood parents’ anxiety about social distancing and the council was also wary of Omicron arriving.
This was "why we’re exploring a range of options to address capacity concerns".
“ However, there is currently no government requirement to socially distance on the bus, which is also why it’s so important to scan on with the Covid Tracer app and wear a mask on the bus.”
The council appreciated this was a big issue for children and families, and was grateful for people’s patience, Dr Palmer said.
“Everybody — from parents, operators, to drivers and ORC staff — are doing their best to try to make this work."
