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Bethlehem Coachlines is taking on the Papamoa to Gate Pa daily school bus service independently to replace the failed Tauranga Transport Network effort.
The Tauranga Transport Network service involved three buses transporting students from Papamoa to Tauranga Intermediate, Tauranga Boys’ College and Tauranga Girls’ College.
Ministry of Education group resourcing manager John Clark says this operator lost its government funding because the service didn’t comply with regulations.
“Directly resourced schools must operate within their transport entitlement zone.
“Investigation into the previous operation of those services identified they were not operating according to their funding agreement, and the routes were amended.”
The abandonment of this service left students to use Bayhoppers to get to school, but these were not large enough on occasion and some students were left waiting at the stops.
Bethlehem Coachlines is providing an alternative for students, but its owner, Neil Jamieson, admits they can’t compete with Bayhopper’s ratepayer-subsidised prices.
Bethlehem Coachlines is offering its bus service at $2.80, slightly up from the $1.60 fares for the Bayhopper buses.
While the Bethlehem Coachlines service is more expensive, it is direct.
“Basically our service follows the old service which was supplied before.
“We are running to St Mary’s, Tauranga Intermediate, Tauranga Boys’ College and Tauranga Girls’ College and stopping outside.
“We supply a timetable which works for the colleges.”
Neil says the commercial service has been operating for less than a fortnight, but already growth is being seen.
Bay of Plenty Regional Council transport policy manager Garry Maloney says his team is monitoring the Bayhopper buses’ performance on the concerned routes.
“We are aware our weekday 7.45am route 36 Bayhopper from Bayfair to Tauranga CBD is now under some pressure to accommodate the number of students travelling to Tauranga Intermediate and the colleges.”
Garry says the number of children needing to use the Bayhopper service means the buses are often too full to accommodate other users too.
Posted on 17-02-2012 10:08 | By reg
Thumbs up to Bethleham Coachlines who have been looking after the transport needs of our schools for years. I would prefer my rate subsidy to go to the Transport of students directly to the school gates than try and jam on the public system.