Kids waiting ‘two hours’ on Pacific Highway for school bus

Angry parents say children on the Central Coast are waiting up to two hours for school buses on a busy highway, with fears it could lead to a “Daniel Morcombe”-type situation.

A Central Coast mother says dozens of kids left waiting for school buses on the Pacific Highway could lead to a “Daniel Morcombe”-type situation, with students forced to wait for up to two hours after school finishes.

Alice McTyer, of Catherine Hill Bay, is one of dozens of parents whose children are being forced to wait for new bus services.

She said a bus route introduced in August using state government funding instead caters mainly for a private school, Lakes Grammar, with about 10 students using the service from that school.

The bus departs from Lakes Grammar at 3.35pm – shortly after the school finishes for the day – but doesn’t pick up students from four local public and Catholic schools until 4.20pm – despite the other schools finishing between 2 and 2.30pm.

Those students have to wait at a crude bus stop on the Pacific Highway.

Alice McTyer pictured with her sons Gus and Robbie. Picture: Sue Graham

Ms McTyer said parents were organising carpooling or even pre-booked taxis to ferry their children home.

“I’ve been fighting for this for years. The impact on families is huge,” Ms McTyer said.

“Basically someone has to be there to pick them up for 2.30pm when schools finishes.

“It’s not like they can just go to some after school activity, it’s a two hour wait.

“(If we can’t pick them up) they’d be sitting on the Pacific Highway on the main road.

“If you’ve got a kindergarten kid, what (situation) are you going to have? Like Daniel Morcombe? There’s no safe and responsible way for my kids to get home from school.”

Daniel Morcombe went missing while waiting for a bus on December 7, 2003. Picture: John Wilson

The McTyres at the bus stop on the Pacific Highway. Picture: Sue Graham

Swansea MP Yasmin Catley said Catherine Hill Bay was a growing community “left with substandard public transport by the Perrottet Government”.

“I have fought alongside the community to secure additional bus routes and we have made progress with a school service being extended to Catherine Hill Bay, but this service still leaves children waiting for up to two hours of an afternoon for a bus by the Pacific Highway,” she said.

Regional Transport Minister Sam Farraway said the transport department was planning improvements for the area.

“Transport attempts to schedule school services to meet the needs of the majority of students,” he said.

“However due to operational constraints such as the number of school services, connecting with other schools and bus service operational constraints, the preferred routes of all students cannot always be accommodated.

“I have asked transport to work with Council to find a new location for the bus stop so kids are not waiting on the Pacific Highway.”