Hawke's Bay community 'bloody angry' at cuts to rural school bus routes

The loss of rural school bus routes has left locals in one Hawke's Bay settlement furious at what they say is a lack of consultation from the Government, with some students now questioning whether to continue their education.

Te Pōhue is around a 40 minute drive from Napier. Following a Ministry of Education review, nine rural bus runs will stop and three others will be restructured that take students to Napier and Hastings.

Mum Michelle Codd told 1News the move could hurt her children's educational future.

"You can't expect me to drive my son you know realistically two hours a day into town and then drive back home and then go to work ... and then do it all again in the afternoon," she said.

"They're making me decide whether or not my 17-year-old daughter goes back for last year because we don't have that bus now."

"If I don't mind using a bit of language, I'm bloody angry," another local told 1News.

Johnella Condon Orr said the decision was "just disappointing".

"Our rural communities depend on them, especially if our kids can't go to a boarding school."

The Ministry of Education said it only provides buses as a last resort and the students in Te Pōhue are either not going to their nearest school or have other transport available.

According to the ministry, William Colenso College in Napier is the closest for Te Pōhue students.

However, Napier's other schools, where students are currently enrolled, are only a few minutes further away.

"Policy requires us to deliver service only to eligible students, so we apply a range of eligibility criteria," the ministry's James Meffan explained.

"Wherever we draw a line ... some people will not win and others will. It's always disappointing to be on the wrong side of that line."

Out of approximately 1400 ministry-contracted daily bus routes across the country, 1News can reveal that 130 have been reviewed since the beginning of Term 1 this year. The nine Hastings bus routes alone affect more than 350 students.

Hastings Mayor Sandra Hazlehurst was unhappy with the lack of consultation. She said the Education Ministry should speak with communities and work out effective solutions for a school transport system, rather than making "blanket cuts for the sake of it".

"I'd like the ministry to come out to our communities and talk with us to see how we can find a solution and how we can get our children to school," she said.

Meffan said because the eligibility criteria is very clear, the ministry isn't consulting in the sense of asking permission to carry out the changes.

Codd said her only option at this stage was to put the issue back on the Education Ministry. "Tell me what you want me to do with my son."

The nine affected bus routes will continue until the end of the year.