A Māngere parent has turned to her local board as a "last resort" to fight changes to a bus route impacting her 14-year-old son and other Onehunga High School students.
By Taelegalolo'u Mary Afemata of Local Democracy Reporting
Jenna Toeono addressed the Māngere-Ōtāhuhu Local Board last week at its monthly business meeting, asking members to support a review of the Route 002 school bus serving students travelling between Onehunga High School and Māngere.
"This issue has been on the radar for about five months, and this is my last resort to be like, 'help', because Auckland Transport is clearly not listening," she told the board.
"The problem is the morning pickup does not align with the afternoon drop-off."
Toeono said students were picked up in the morning from Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae and Korū Primary School on Robertson Rd, but the afternoon service did not return to those stops.
"Now the issue is that the afternoon drop-off misses out the marae and Korū Primary School, and it just stops at the Samoan AOG Church," she said.
"We all know our community, and that is in itself a heightened risk. You need to just wear the wrong school uniform and be a potential target. I'm not saying that's unsafe, but all I'm saying is that's a proposed risk for our children.
"All the bus needs to do is just go a little bit further up the road to then align with where they pick up in the morning, which makes a lot of sense,” Toeono said.
She said other school bus services already aligned their morning and afternoon routes.
Speaking to Local Democracy Reporting, Toeono said she had originally asked Auckland Transport (AT) to reinstate Route 001 after it was shortened in November 2025.
When her request was declined, she instead asked for the afternoon Route 002 to be extended by two stops to match the morning service.
"I'm not asking for a brand new route. All I'm really asking is to just go further up the road... just so that our students can get closer."
Toeono said she first raised the issue with Onehunga High School in February after learning Route 001 had been shortened.
The school told her it had notified parents of the November 2025 changes but said bus routes were managed by AT. She contacted the Ministry of Education, which referred her to AT.
After months of trying to resolve the issue directly with AT, she hoped the local board's support would help push for a review.
Board member Harry Toleafoa said the local board would raise the issue with AT through its liaison process.
"Definitely noted; we will put it through our liaison for Auckland Transport ... hopefully we'll get some traction as well," he said, adding the board had previously dealt with similar public transport issues.
Route shortened due to low passenger numbers
LDR reached out to AT, which said the concern stemmed from changes made during a review of Māngere school bus services in November 2025.
The agency said a section of Route 001 beyond Māngere Town Centre was removed because passenger numbers were low, averaging about seven passengers per trip, with fewer than one passenger, on average, getting off at the Robertson Rd stop near Papatūānuku Kōkiri Marae.
"When shortening this route, Auckland Transport took into account that further travel is available from Māngere Town Centre on various urban bus routes," a spokesperson said.
AT said Onehunga High School was advised of the proposed changes in August 2025 before they were introduced, and no concerns were raised at the time.
Toeono said she was unaware of the changes because her son had been living temporarily in Niue for much of 2025 and only returned to Onehunga High School this year.
After initially indicating another review could be considered, AT later clarified that a further review was unlikely because school bus services in the area had already been reviewed in November 2025.
Asked by LDR about Toeono's concerns regarding students transferring buses at Māngere Town Centre, AT said questions about the town centre's safety were best answered by police.
The organisation said the town centre was a busy transport hub with more than 1000 weekday boardings, parents could use the AT Mobile app's "Share My Journey" feature to track their children's trips, and it believed the current school bus network "overall ... meets the safety needs of school students".
– LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air.
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