Page 1711 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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Minister, why did you reject a “no child left behind” guarantee when you put forward the bus network?
MS FITZHARRIS: That reporting was, I believe, incorrect. It is certainly not the case. This is an important point about how the network operates. Under the previous network there were a number of dedicated school stops. In many instances the only bus to stop at that dedicated school stop was a school bus. If a child is waiting at a dedicated school bus stop and misses that bus, there is no other bus.
It was a very important principle to remove dedicated school buses, as I understand, in response to a number of issues that have been raised around the country of children being left at bus stops: not to have dedicated school bus stops where only one service in the morning and one service in the afternoon would be attending, because there was a view that this is not a good policy. That is why dedicated school services now largely stop at existing bus stops. That is actually an important principle around safety. I have followed up on this and I am assured of our policy.
MRS DUNNE: Minister, why did you launch a bus network based on so-called rigorous patronage data but fail to take account of buses at peak hour leaving school students stranded at bus stops across the territory?
MS FITZHARRIS: School students were not stranded at bus stops across the territory.
MISS C BURCH: Minister, why is it acceptable for Canberra students to be dangerously left behind under the new bus network?
MS FITZHARRIS: They are not. Certainly in the first week of operations we saw some capacity issues particularly at a number of schools, given that we are talking about school services, but also on regular services. That is because we have seen close to a 10 per cent increase in patronage, which is fantastic. We have responded where there are particular capacity issues. For example, at St Francis Xavier College and Burgmann College we have responded specifically to capacity issues either by having an additional service or by expanding the bus capacity at the schools.
Responding to Miss C Burch’s earlier question about a family with three children catching a bus, I note that when that family of three children were catching a bus last year—whether it was a dedicated school bus or a normal route bus—there were still only two bike racks on the front of every bus. So in that matter nothing has changed. Bike racks can take only two bikes. That was the case last year; it is the case right now.
In that instance they would not have an option because there would have been one dedicated school bus. In the new network there may be on occasion two dedicated school buses as well as the option to catch a normal route bus. So, in fact, as is the design of the network, there are now more options.
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