New spur policy helps country families

25/1/02
More country children will now be eligible to travel on school buses under changes to the Government's spur bus policy.
The changes, announced today by Minister responsible for Public Transport Michelle Roberts, will mean school children previously ineligible under the former Government's spur policy will now be picked up and taken to school.
The new spur policy will begin operation from the start of the 2002 school year.
It will give parents the choice of either having their child picked up on a bus spur, remaining with the conveyance allowance or a combination of both.
"I was keen to ensure that we improved the school bus policy in terms of spurs for country people before the start of the 2002 school year," Mrs Roberts said.
"There are 25,000 students each day using the Government's school bus service, travelling a distance of 143,000km to and from school.
"The previous Government cut costs by imposing a rule that families with two or more children had to live within 7.5km of a main bus route to qualify for a spur.
"They also calculated the eligibility for a spur on the number of families, not the number of children it would serve. We have scrapped that mean-spirited approach.
"Now all families can drive to a spur route to have their children taken to school. It is no longer determined by how far away you live from a main school bus route or how many children you have."
Mrs Roberts said the policy change would give families more options for school travel, provide many with more peace of mind and in some cases a door-to-door school bus service.
Minister's office: 9222 9211