Western Bay of Plenty school children will ride for free on the newly introduced Schoolhopper during term one thanks to a financial decision by Bay of Plenty Regional Council.

The decision provides parents with some security for the new school term after sweeping changes to the previously free bus service.

Mount Maunganui College students getting off a Ministry of Education funded school bus. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

With the Ministry of Education withdrawing its funding for Tauranga's urban school bus routes at the end of this term, the regional council has stepped in with the Schoolhopper service.

The replacement services will see children charged $1.15 for concessionary travel and $1.60 for cash fares.

Bay of Plenty Regional councillor and Public Transport Subcommittee chair Lyall Thurston hopes the decision takes some of the financial pressure off families as they look at their budgets for the start of the school year.

'We had been looking at ways to make the introduction of the new service as easy on families as possible, so we hope this helps eases some concerns that people may have,” says Lyall.

He says the regional council doesn't want the possible delay in the arrival of ticketing machines to impact on the smooth launch of the service.

'This will also allow us to ensure we have all our technology and processes in place to make sure the network runs smoothly in the first few weeks and give students time to purchase their Smartride Cards for their travel for Term 2,” he adds.

Lyall says the regional council has budgeted for costs associated with launching the service, and felt this was the most appropriate way for that budget to be used.

'It's an exciting time for us as we launch the new network and hopefully create another generation of users of public transport,” he adds.

School student users of the Bayhopper network will also benefit – they will be able to take advantage of the reduced Schoolhopper bus fare from the start of the school term next year.

Timings and stops for the Schoolhopper network will be available on the Baybus website from next week.