Parents, students and politicians raise safety concerns over crammed school buses

Concerns continue to be raised about students being “crammed” onto school buses, with students being forced to stand for long distances or having to sit on the floor. READ THE EDITORIAL + VOTE IN OUR POLL >>

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WORRIED parents are contacting school authorities, transport bodies and even Hobart’s Lord Mayor about the problem of overcrowding on school buses, with fears over safety and compliance with COVID-19 restrictions.

Reports of crowded buses, students being left behind at bus stops and changes to routes without consultation have been raised since students returned to school last week.

It comes after a photograph surfaced of a crowded bus of Taroona High School students on Friday afternoon, showing passengers crammed together with many of them forced to stand and hold onto rails.

Tasmanian Association of State School Organisations president Jared Dickason has two daughters attend the school and said he drove them there himself wherever possible.

Mr Dickason said he had heard other reports of overcrowded bus services around Richmond and Campania — and in the state’s North-West — or where routes had changed without proper consultation.

He said there were often teething issues at the start of a school year but suggested a reduction in funding was to blame for some of the problems.

A crowded school bus arrives at Hobart College – with one student being forced to stand next to the driver.

Tasmanian Transport Council secretary Julie Wise said among feedback from bus users and their parents was that they were forced to stand on a bus for long periods.

“We’ve had reports where children can’t get on the bus because there are too many on there,” she said.

“One of the big issues is that the kids are being crammed onto the bus, and most of those are run by private operators.”

Leon Chick, whose granddaughter Amelia attends Rosetta Primary School and travels by bus with her father to Claremont, said crowded buses were also an issue in the Northern Suburbs.

Mr Chick said it was intimidating for children to board buses with limited space.

A parent reported how their child had to sit on the floor during a 50-minute journey to and from school, while another said their child had to stand on a bus between New Norfolk and New Town.

This photo was snapped this morning by a Mercury snapper of an overcrowded bus, with one student forced to stand up next...

Posted by The Mercury Newspaper on Tuesday, 9 February 2021

Hobart Lord Mayor Anna Reynolds said she had been contacted by more than half a dozen parents in the past week about issues with school buses.

“It’s just dangerous,” she said.

“I think it might be helpful for there to be an independent audit of whether the numbers standing comply with the state government’s transport safety provisions around standing passengers.”

A state government spokeswoman said the Department of State Growth continued to monitor capacity and assess whether adjustments to bus services were needed.

“Operators are obligated to inform the department of capacity issues when certain thresholds are reached,” the spokeswoman said.

“We are aware of one instance at the start of this school year where an operator arranged for a second bus to collect students when the first was full.

“Bus drivers may refuse a passenger if the vehicle is at capacity to ensure limits are not exceeded.

“As an essential service, public transport is exempt from [COVID-19] gathering restrictions.”

The state government said the Department of State Growth’s annual report showed expenditure of $33.39 million on school buses in 2019-20, with an end-of-year forecast for 2020-21 of $34.7 million.

EDITORIAL: We need a much better school bus system

OVERCROWDING on Tasmanian school buses may not be a new issue – but that doesn’t mean it’s one that should go on without being addressed.

The Mercury has published photos showing buses crammed full of students and we’ve heard reports of children being left at bus stops because there isn’t even standing room left on board.

And it seems to be a problem right across the state.

In nearly every other location, present-day coronavirus regulations limit the number of people in close quarters and we are required to practice social distancing in any given setting.

Yet public transport is exempt from gathering restrictions. Can you not catch COVID-19 on a bus? It defies all logic.

Having children packed into a bus like that poses an obvious risk and the photo that shows a young boy riding upfront beside the driver with his nose a short distance from the front windscreen would leave any parent shuddering.

Further, in Queensland there is a no child left behind principle that was created in the aftermath of the tragic Daniel Morcombe case.

The 13-year-old disappeared from a Sunshine Coast bus stop in 2003 when a bus that was running late failed to stop for him.

He was then abducted and murdered by Brett Peter Cowan.

Importantly, it was a public transport vehicle Daniel had been waiting for on his way back from a Christmas shopping trip.

Here in Tasmania we are talking about school buses that should have a greater duty of care not to leave children behind.

Worryingly the state government says it’s fine for drivers to refuse a passenger if the vehicle is at capacity.

Surely if there are numerous issues on numerous routes, there needs to be a better solution than leaving it to operators to say after-the-fact that there is a capacity issue.

Is it that hard for schools or the education department to contact families and ask them to confirm if their child requires transport or not then adjust the number of buses accordingly to ensure that no child is left behind or left at risk by having to stand?

Surely logic would suggest that would be a much better system that the one presently in place.

A number of social media commentators suggested that overcrowding on school buses was something that’s happened for years – almost as a way of saying it doesn’t need to be fixed.

But apply that logic to a great number of difficult lessons we’ve learned since “back in the day” and there’s no doubt we’d be a lot worse off.

Just because it’s a historical wrong, doesn’t mean a bit of modern technology – like a simple mailing list and spreadsheet – couldn’t easily prevent an issue that’s clearly stressing out parents and putting children at risk.

FEBRUARY 9:

PARENTS and students at a southern Tasmanian high school have raised safety fears amid overcrowded buses to and from the school.

A picture taken on a bus carrying Taroona High School students on Friday shows passengers crammed in, including a large number who were forced to stand and hold onto rails.

Taroona High School students pictured on an overcrowded bus on Friday afternoon.

Tasmanian public schools returned to classes in the middle of last week and enrolments at Taroona have swelled from 999 in 2017 to 1116 last year.

Parent Garry Brown, whose 14-year-old twins Mack and Lutzia are in Year 9 at the school, said the problem was getting worse.

Mr Brown’s son Mack took the photograph on the bus.

“We were discussing it prior to the school year recommencing and they were quite concerned about what was going to transpire and their greatest fears came to light in the first day or two of the new (school) year,’’ he said.

“They actually get quite anxious at times having to catch the bus to and from school, particularly on the warmer days.”

Mr Brown claimed there had been instances in the past where students had fallen over on the bus and hurt themselves. He said the ideal of social distancing had also been disregarded.

“Give us more buses. And manage the onboarding of the kids — limit the number of passengers,’’ he said.

Labor MP David O'Byrne during question time in state parliament. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Labor Franklin MP David O’Byrne said crowded buses were an issue of safety.

“The state government continue to refuse to take the necessary steps to improve the situation,’’ he said.

A government spokeswoman said improvements had been made at the start of the year, including a larger bus to transport students from South Hobart in the mornings and an extra service to Fern Tree in the afternoons.

“There is no space in the school grounds at Taroona for additional buses due to constrained space,’’ the spokeswoman said.

The government said standing passengers was a legal and normal practice across Australia.