Overcrowded services making students late for high school on the northern beaches
HIGH school students are turning up late for classes because a morning school bus is often too crowded to pull up at their stop.
Manly
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HIGH school students are turning up late for classes because a morning school bus is often too crowded to pull up at their stop.
And frustrated parents said State Transit’s route 680n bus, which carried students to Balgowlah Boys High, regularly failed to meet its scheduled timetable.
Now staff at the high school are urging transport officials to put on more buses to cope with growing student numbers.
The 680n, which starts at Wheeler Heights at 7.33am, also picks up students travelling to Mackellar Girls and Forest high schools. The bus travels through Cromer, Narraweena, Beacon Hill, Frenchs Forest, Allambie Heights and Manly Vale before its scheduled arrival at Balgowlah Boys at 8.38am.
But a mother (who asked not to be named) of a Year 7 boy who gets on the bus in Allambie Rd, said the bus had failed to stop at her son’s stop several times this term.
“The bus, which is quite often a bendy bus, just goes straight on by because it is already crammed full,” the mother said. “It leaves a group of kids from Balgowlah Boys and Mackellar Girls stranded.
“The parents then have to make arrangements for someone to drive them to school.
“It is very stressful as a parent not knowing, every morning, if your son is going to make it to school.”
The mother, who has complained to State Transit four times, said parents were taking it in turns to make sure at least one parent was at the bus stop each morning to see if the bus turned up.
“It is affecting parents’ work schedules and home life,” she said.
“When I speak to older boys, they say the bus service has been like this for at least nine months now and things like the bus not stopping or not turning up ‘happen all the time’,” she said.
Balgowlah Boys High acting principal Ian James said the school had been in contact with State Transit about the overcrowded buses.
“We are frustrated, on behalf of the parents, that the boys are having difficulties getting to school,” Mr James said.
“The school has grown massively in the past two years due to our successes in NAPLAN and the HSC.
“State Transit is doing the best it can but requests have been sent for it to put on more buses.”
State Transit said it had received six complaints about overcrowding on the 680n since the start of this term.
“State Transit is aware of heavy loading on route 680n,” a spokeswoman said.
“We are currently investigating the issue to determine where extra capacity is required along the route and what can be done to alleviate any issues of overcrowding.
“If a school service is at its maximum capacity and is unable to pick up students along the route, the bus driver is required to contact State Transit’s Network Control Centre so that appropriate arrangements can be made, such as running an additional bus if possible.”
State Transit urged students to use their Opal cards to ensure accurate patronage data was captured.
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