School bus service unfair: mum

By Tania Martin
A MOTHER from The Patch is calling for better bus services for school children.
Kathy Osborne has questioned why there aren’t more public bus services for school children in the hills.
Ms Osborne said she doesn’t know where to turn following a huge jump in private bus fees.
Her son attends Beaconhills College in Berwick and the school bus fees have gone up 200 per cent.
Ms Osborne said this comes after US Bus Lines last year increased the fees from $940 to $2800 per child per year. She said that in response to the price hike, the school changed bus companies to Berwick Bus Lines which now costs parents $2080 per child per year.
Ms Osborne said her son now has to travel an extra six kilometres to catch the bus.
She says this is because the pick-up point has changed as different bus companies have different pick-up points.
“This minor alteration means I may be forced to stop working because we now have to drive our son to and from his new bus stop every day,” she said.
Ms Osborne has also questioned why the bus is free for students who attend the Pakenham campus of the school.
“If we sent our son to the Pakenham campus instead of Berwick then the bus travel would be free because it is zoned as a country service, which doesn’t make sense because it is only 15 minutes further than Berwick,” she said.
But a spokesperson for the Transport Minister said the Pakenham bus network was established many years ago for the benefit of eligible government school students attending primary and secondary schools in Pakenham. The spokesperson said students attending private schools such as Beaconhills are eligible to travel on government buses only after eligible government school students have been accommodated.
Ms Osborne has also called for more public transport options for school children.
She says it is unfair that children travelling to schools like Beaconhills don’t have the option to use public transport because there is none available.