Page 199 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 6 March 2007
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Mrs Dunne: What about Alfred Deakin High, where the kids were told to find their own way home?
Mrs Burke: What about public schools?
MR HARGREAVES: As I indicated in the answer earlier on, those routes will commence 15 minutes earlier to make sure the kids get there on time. When we looked into all of the so-called complaints about kids being left behind that popped up in the Canberra Times, we found that there were a number of issues. One certainly was an issue. That was because a bus broke down. We apologise for that one. All of the other ones I have found not to be issues. In fact, we had certain areas where there was what people would describe as overcrowding, but we made sure that some of the supervisors with cars were there, and they made sure that kids were not left behind or left standing at the bus stop.
What intrigues me a little on this is that we are now saying that the buses are overcrowded, yet we actually have the same number of kids as last year. We also should note—and Mrs Dunne should know this—that at this time of the year the buses are always overcrowded. They have been since I first got involved in the issue when I was on the Erindale P&C. I will not tell a lie: it was the Erindale board. For about four to six weeks at the beginning of a term there is all sorts of mayhem on the school buses while the students determine their before and after school programs—for example, sporting commitments, music and other sorts of activities. They disperse and they use different bus routes altogether. They settle down. This has been known for a long time.
We have had changes to the distribution of the kids because of the closure of schools and the filling up of other ones. So far, my feedback has been that this has been quite a successful exercise. For this, I congratulate not only the ACTION schedulers but also the drivers.
Some years ago there was a committee that determined, or at least looked at, the school bus routes in about October of each year, in order to introduce changes to reflect the demography of the school kids. That had on it ACTION people, P&C reps and department of education reps. I do not know why that ceased to exist, but I have asked ACTION to advise me on reinstating that committee. I think it provided quite a useful piece of input into the system. I do not think that the issue of the provision of bus services to schools in the ACT is anywhere near as dramatic as those opposite would make it.
I have had something like half-a-dozen letters from Mrs Dunne. One letter mentioned about a dozen bus routes. The response to that is in the mail. I cannot recall ever signing one to Mrs Burke. I do not recall signing anything to Mr Pratt about it. I do not remember signing anything to Mr Smyth about it. I think these guys are chasing rabbits and just trying to find fault with a system that is actually quite responsive. I have agreed that the commuter feeder routes need to be looked at. We will do that for sure. But the school bus routes are a very responsive service. These folks are just trying to beat something up yet again.
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