In a letter to the Minister of Education and Minister of Transport, the councillors request a meeting about the review of the school bus services in the Whakatipu Basin, which the council representatives from the Dunstan Ward — Crs Gary Kelliher, Matt Hollyer, Michael Laws and Neil Gillespie — believe was fatally flawed.
"These changes are simply wrong and will put additional pressure on an already strained commuter environment, create additional barriers to school attendance, and create an unacceptable health and safety risk for children."
Wakatipu High School and Queenstown Primary School have already approached the government about their concerns with the changes, which will take place in the second term of this year.
"As the public bus routes for primary schools do not duplicate the current school service, this means at best teachers will be required to guide students to get them to the alternative bus stops," the councillors’ letter said.
"In the instance of Queenstown Primary School there are over 120 students, requiring six to eight teachers to walk them to the downtown bus stop, then waiting for two to three different bus services over 45 to 60 minutes to ensure all students are safety on board buses."
Under the changes, one route will be cancelled, a new route will be introduced, seven will be redesigned and the remaining 11 routes will continue on an interim basis.
The councillors also argue that the changes failed to take into account logistics such as the lack of sunlight during winter afternoons.
"While the community here is reasonably hardy, the reality is that withdrawal of school services will ultimately mean an increased travel time for students.
"In winter, when sunrise is later and sunset is earlier than Wellingtonians are familiar with, this will mean that students would need to leave home in the dark.
"For those that need to transit at the Frankton bus hub, they’re likely to also get home after dark."
The changes "completely missed the mark" were "entirely ill-timed" and would create "an unacceptable health and safety risk for children", the letter said.
The councillors have recently received a response from Education Minister Erica Stanford, who has defended the changes.
Her letter said communication over proposed changes dated back to 2021, to ensure changes align with the council’s own planning processes.
"While the ministry can only provide services to students who meet its eligibility criteria, regional councils have greater flexibility to provide services that meet the transport needs of their communities.
"Schools are responsible for the safe supervision of students during bus loading and unloading, managing behaviour on bus services in collaboration with bus operators, and communicating safety expectations to parents and caregivers."
Cr Laws said Ms Stanford’s letter was a typical "thanks but no thanks" response that councils occasionally get from governments.
"So the letter to government has had no lobbying effect whatsoever.
"What happens, though, is that the Otago Regional Council, and ironically the residents of Queenstown, are being disadvantaged by the fact that the Queenstown transport services paid for by themselves, through their rates, have become much more effective and widespread over the last decade.
"And so the upgrading of that service has meant that, with a degree of impunity, the Ministry of Education can enforce its long existing policy that, where there is a public transport system, they don’t need to provide a service."
Cr Laws said there were "obvious problems" with this approach.
"There’s going to be a significant additional expense for those who use school transport, probably to the point where it doesn’t make any sense to put them on a bus.
"Economically, it makes sense to drive them. And at that point, you’re going to have a lot more congestion on the roads in Queenstown at a time when you least need it."
Cr Laws said now was the time for schools to think of their own solutions to these problems.
"That may mean arranging ride-sharing between parents, which is an obvious one. It may mean putting on services themselves and sharing small transport operations.
"Or it may mean, you know, you just have to bite the bullet and see. But it’s probably now the time to start to devise local solutions, given that Wellington’s not going to move."
