The Ministry of Education has confirmed it is pressing ahead with cuts to school bus services in the Wakatipu, despite a review of school transport policy ordered by Minister of Education Erica Stanford in March.
Ministry school transport general manager James Meffan said school bus route reviews had been paused nationwide while the policy review was under way.
However, the pause did not apply to Queenstown because its review had been completed and communicated to schools in December.
‘‘The announcement of the pause on school bus reviews in March centred around reviews that had not yet been completed.’’
Mr Meffan said interim changes to Queenstown’s school buses, which came into effect at the start of term 2, would remain in place until the Otago Regional Council increased the capacity of public buses to fill the gap.
A date for the second stage of the cuts would not be decided until the council finalised a ‘‘long-term, sustainable plan’’ to achieve that.
The ministry was working with the council on that plan, he said.
‘‘Schools will be advised once these arrangements are finalised and implementation dates are confirmed.’’
Under the interim changes, which came into effect on April 20, one service was axed, seven were redesigned and 11 interim services introduced.
Of the 11 interim services, eight go to Wakatipu High School — from Arrowtown, Arthurs Point, Lake Hayes Estate, Lower Shotover and Quail Rise.
Two go to Kings View School and one to Queenstown Primary from Arthurs Point.
The free services have been facing the axe since 2021, when the ministry announced they would be reviewed.
It said, at the time, long-standing policy settings made it a school bus provider of ‘‘last resort’’ and most services in Queenstown would be scrapped once suitable council-provided public transport was in place.
Schools and parents were bitterly opposed to the move, concerns included safety at bus stops and while children are walking between stops and their schools, children being left behind at stops when buses are full or cancelled, late arrival at schools, increased congestion on already busy Queenstown roads and financial costs for families.
Council regional planning and transport general manager Anita Dawe said it was ‘‘too early to say’’ if it could fully replace the services facing the chop.
At the moment, it did not have the budget or resources to do that.
‘‘Our aim will be to provide capacity at key times and on key routes,’’ Ms Dawe said.
The plan will be finalised this year, but is subject to council approval.
‘‘If approved, we’d anticipate the plan being implemented from term 1 next year,’’ she said.
Asked if district council could help the regional council fund the replacement services, Mayor John Glover said ‘‘the short answer is we won’t’’ and the regional council would have to fund them itself.
He understood the regional council was planning to provide additional public buses with slightly modified routes so they could drop off and pick up children at their schools.
