A Dalefield parent says he will be driving about 150km a week to put his children on to a school bus next term due to the Ministry of Education’s "illogical" reasoning.
Currently, the parent, who does not want to be identified, takes his two Queenstown Primary School children to the nearby intersection of Malaghans Rd and Dalefield Rd, where they catch a school bus along with children from up to four other families.
However, as part of the ministry’s rejig of services for the second term, the bus — which departs from the Malaghans Rd intersection with Coronet Peak Station Rd — will instead start and finish its route at Arthurs Point.
The parent said for the driver to get into position for this service, they would head off from Frankton and likely travel along Dalefield Rd to Malaghans Rd, given Littles Rd is a longer journey.
"To reach [Arthurs Point], the bus must drive directly past the existing stop that my family and several neighbouring families currently use," he said.
"It will pass that same point again on the afternoon return journey."
Instead, the parent said he would be forced to drive about 7km each way to the Arthurs Point stop, which is about 28km every day, or about 150km a week "of entirely unnecessary travel".
If all five families drive their children, it would be about 750km a week, he added.
"It just seems completely illogical," he said.
"What’s it going to add, 30 seconds for the bus to pull in?"
He said the school bus could end up with five cars following it to where the first stop on its amended route would be.
In an email to the ministry on January 14, he said: "There is no logical or operational foundation for excluding students from an existing stop that a bus is already travelling past."
The ministry has been approached for comment.
