Free public transport but scant school bus links drive congestion in the west
School work is putting huge pressure on roads in Melbourne’s west as many parents are giving their children rides rather than taking them on public transport, and teachers say students are arriving late to school because public transport is infrequent.
According to state government transport data, passenger journeys, including school trips, account for nearly four in 10 car journeys in Brimbank, Melton and Wyndham councils; This is well above the city average of 2.5 in every 10 private car trips.
Werribee resident Tania Yousuf has two children at Melbourne Islamic College in Tarneit and one at Suzanne Cory High School in Werribee. He drops them off every morning and it takes about 20 minutes to get to each school.
The public transport route includes numerous buses and takes over an hour. Yousuf supports making public transportation free for students this year, but says his family would benefit more from the policy if buses were more frequent, saving on gas and including $800 a month for a driver to pick up the kids after school.
“We have less bus service,” he said. “We have to use our car most of the time.”
Wyndham has the second most independent educational trips in the city (99,914 weekday trips) behind the City of Casey, which has 156,276 day educational trips. Journeys include school and tertiary travel.
Last year the state government added nearly 2000 weekly services at Wyndham Vale and Werribee, including services to Bemin Secondary College and Laverton P-12 College.
An additional service was the third service between Riverwalk Estate and Werribee Secondary School; but parents say kids still miss the bus because it’s too crowded.
“Riverwalk’s population has exploded. It’s in a good school district with Werribee Secondary School,” says Lahiri Bellarykar, whose son Anagh tries to catch the bus every day.
“This additional bus, even that isn’t enough. It’s a struggle every day. Sometimes laptops get damaged because someone accidentally steps on them.” He believes the bus route needs at least two additional services.
Iqbal Hossain, a teacher in the western suburbs, says school buses should be more frequent so that if they are missed, the student does not become more than half an hour late.
“By the time they get on the next bus, we will have already finished the first period,” he said. “They probably miss an entire class in the morning.”
Consolidating bus routes and providing more frequent service is a key step in transport research from the University of Melbourne. An option that John Stone has studied and supported.
Stone says plenty of buses operate out west, but too many routes require people to change buses several times. “It’s spread very thinly,” he said.
Stone said the current bus network could be reconfigured to run 10-minute services using major arterials, although he acknowledged this could mean fewer local routes.
Stone said public transportation is part of students’ growing independence. “The time between finishing school and returning home is a time when we grow; we learn to interact with people,” he said. “Without that, it’s a real loss.”
A spokesperson for the Ministry of Transport and Planning said the government was investing in school buses to ensure every student could access education in their area.
“We regularly review school bus services to make improvements and will continue to work with schools to determine the best transportation options for students.”
Beginning the featuring a roundup of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.
Jackson Graham is an education correspondent for The Age. He previously worked as an explanatory reporter.Connect via email.
