Reduced Bus Fare For Tauranga Students
Reduced Bus Fare For Tauranga Students
18 February 2014
Tauranga students affected by the Ministry of Education’s withdrawal of out of policy school bus services from the start of next year will have to pay a fare, but it will be at a reduced rate.
Councillors
at Bay of Plenty Regional Council’s Public Transport
Sub-Committee meeting on Friday agreed in principle to
implementing a reduced fare for BayHopper services for the
Tauranga school bus transition.
From January 2015 the
Ministry of Education will no longer fund “out of
policy” school transport in Tauranga. This refers to
students who do not meet the Ministry’s eligibility
criteria for bus transport but who currently may be able to
use school bus services funded by the Ministry of Education.
The Regional Council is planning for the increased demand
for public transport that will result.
Councillors on
the Public Transport Sub-Committee were asked to consider
the fare policy to be implemented, with a lower fare than
the current BayHopper student fare recommended.
An
estimated 3000 students will be affected by the school
transport changes, of a total of about 23,000 students
attending schools in the Tauranga urban area.
“This
decision will provide some certainty for schools as they
consider the issue as part of their annual planning, and
will help prepare parents for the transition from the
Ministry of Education-funded services,” Public Transport
Sub-Committee Chair Lyall Thurston said.
The Regional
Council’s project advisory group, which includes
representatives from the New Zealand Transport Agency, the
Ministry of Education, the Bus and Coach Association, and
schools, has previously given an indication of support for
the introduction of fares.
“We accept that this
will not be welcome news for those families with children
who find they will have to pay a bus fare from next year,
but the provision of bus transport will place a cost on the
community and that cost has to be met in part by users, the
same as it is for all public transport services in the
country.
“We are already working with schools,
affected students and parents, to develop solutions together
and want the community to help us shape a new SchoolHopper
bus service and we will be consulting the wider community as
we go through the process,” Mr Thurston said.
Following the decision about fares, Regional Council
transport staff will now start work on confirming the
routes, with community input.
Councillors may be
required to reconsider the in-principle fare decision as
better information comes to hand, and once a final decision
has been made, fares to be charged will be included in the
Regional Council’s Annual Plan and Ten Year Plan.
Funding and procurement approvals will then need to be
finalised with the New Zealand Transport Authority and
contracts entered into with operators.
Background
• In March 2010 the
Ministry of Education and Bay of Plenty District Council
signed a memorandum of understanding to work together to
align the provision of school transport. The MOU
acknowledged the Ministry is required to withdraw from
providing “out of policy” school transport in
Tauranga.
• Many students already use existing
BayHopper services with children making up about 20 percent
of bus patrons.
• Regional Council’s transport team
put forward three options for potential fare solutions for
the transition phase of replacement school bus services and
agreed in principle to Option 3:
Option 1: Implement the
fare policy in the Regional Public Transport Plan, which
does not include a concessionary fare scheme specifically
for students;
Option 2: Charge students the same fares as they are currently charged on BayHopper urban services ($1.80 per ride for cash or $1.44 with a Smartride card);
Option 3: Lower fares than
currently being charged.
For more
information go to the SchoolHopper section of www.baybus.co.nz
Ends