Radford College students as young as nine would be forced to catch two buses to and from school each day, changing at busy public interchanges, if Transport Canberra’s proposed new bus routes go ahead, according to the school’s principal.
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In an email sent to parents, principal said the reduction in bus services, particularly for the hundreds of primary-aged students who rely on the dedicated school bus each day, would inevitably result in more parents choosing to drive their children to the gate.
“School bus services provide considerable peace of mind for parents and if these services are not available, parents will be forced to drive their children to school,” she said.
The prestigious Bruce school currently has 1750 students enrolled, with plans to increase to more than 2000 students by 2021.
Ms Godfrey said the school now relied on six school bus services, coming from Weston Creek and Woden Valley in the mornings, and spreading out to the inner north, Belconnen and Gungahlin in the afternoon.
But the changes, due to be implemented in January, would reduce the number of school bus services, particularly by removing the afternoon bus to Canberra’s inner north, merging the Weston Creek and Woden service, and removing the service to Curtin and the broader Weston Creek area.
There would also be no school bus service to or from the Belconnen region, where more than 600 Radford students from Year 3 onwards live.
In the email, which outlined the school’s planned submission to Transport Canberra, Ms Godfrey said the public bus network was not suitable for students because they would be travelling through bus interchanges and crossing busy intersections unsupervised.
It would also result in an increase in cars on the road.
“The increase in the number of cars will worsen traffic congestion on Canberra’s roads. This is likely to result in more accidents and will compromise the safety not just of the Radford community, but also the general public in the busy Bruce precinct,” she said.
“As part of its Master Plan and Sustainability Charter, the College is considering the best measures to encourage its community to seek alternative transport to cars. An increase to dedicated school bus services to and from Radford would support this initiative.”
She added that the proposed changes to bus systems would undermine the government’s own “strong sustainability agenda”, by forcing more cars onto the road.
Parent Kirstie Hardy, whose two children catch the bus from Curtin to Radford each day, said the bus service had been the deciding factor when choosing a school.
She said "wouldn't really be comfortable" with her kids, aged 11 and 13, travelling through the Woden bus interchange each day.
"I feel really secure when I pop them on the bus - it’s secure, we’re one minute away, they get on the bus and I know they’re going to arrive at Radford 30 minutes later, and I can trust in that system and it just makes our lives so much easier," she said.
"The other biggest thing is just the time. If they were to catch buses in the future, as they get older, it just means they’ve got to leave that much earlier, and it completely ruins our family dynamic.
"[And] if I was to drive, I would then miss out on getting to work on time, I’d be less productive at work and not get in as many hours - it just seems ridiculous that they’d be creating this change that is just stupid.
"That bus is usually full, so it’s a lot of families that are going to be impacted."
