Photo: RNZ
Farmers and rural families are furious over the government's review and cancellation of school bus routes, fearing small towns will be abandoned and students will stop attending class.
The Ministry of Education regularly reviews routes, which can be prompted by several factors, including requests from schools, changes in the school network - such as a new school opening - improvements in the local public transport network or low patronage.
Saving money, the ministry insists, is not a "specific intention".
So far this year, 290 routes have been reviewed - with 39 either cancelled or set to be. The ministry says this is due to fewer than eight eligible students using the service or in cases where students are not eligible for school transport assistance.
So, what makes you eligible? Students must attend their closest state or state-integrated school; Year 1 to 8 students must live more than 3.2 kilometres from their school, while high school students must live at least 4.8km away, and public transport cannot be a viable option.
But what happens when you tick all those boxes, and the bus is still cancelled?
"It shocks me that we live in this developed western society, and we are having to have these battles for back-to-basic rights," Clive mother Claudia Heaps tells The Detail.
Her family lives about 11km from Havelock North, where one son attends the local high school, while another will soon enrol at the intermediate. They take the bus to and from school. But from next April, that bus will no longer be available, as it is set to be cancelled at the end of Term 1.
"I think it's a mixture of shock and disappointment really. I can't believe they would make something as basic as getting to school a challenge for kids, especially in light of talking about improving attendance records."
The public bus will drop her kids off in the middle of Havelock North, about a 25-minute walk from their schools - "across busy roads" - and will not pick them up to take them home until 4.30 pm.
"It will see groups of kids hanging around in Havelock North for an hour and a half waiting for a bus home," she says. "If you have enough time on your hands... '[the] devil makes work for idle hands'... of course there is a chance these boys will get up to mischief or cheekiness."
And she fears what will happen to the Clive township.
"It's a lovely family community, but it will be a much less attractive prospect if we can't get our kids to school. What will happen to Clive? Will people lose interest in living here because they haven't got access to their school?"
Federated Farmers is in talks with the ministry, trying to save more rural routes from being terminated and suggesting solutions.
Meat and wool chair and national board member Toby Williams, who is based in Gisborne, says the situation is disappointing and urgent action is needed.
"We are looking at whether schools and communities maybe own their own buses and design their own routes. We want schools to work more closely with the ministry's transport team.
"We don't have expectations that kids will be picked up right outside their house, that's not realistic, but we shouldn't have parents driving 20km to pick their kids up."
He says the current situation is adding stress to farmers, with their workers quitting so they can move closer to schools and bus routes.
"It's important we get changes before term 1 next year," Williams says.
"It's just too stressful for farmers and their communities."
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