James Meffan, the Ministry of Education group manager of school transport, said in October that the primary responsibility for getting children to and from school rested with their caregivers.
To be eligible to receive ministry-funded school transport assistance, there must be eight or more students using the bus, students must attend their local state or state-integrated school, and they must live within a certain distance of the school.
He said the ministry was able to help where distance or accessibility was a barrier.
Todd and Rachel said they didn’t want to stop sending Oliver to Karamū as it “was a really great fit for him”, so after some brainstorming, they came up with a solution.
“We spoke about it and just said ‘should we buy a bus or van or something?’, just to keep the parents’ choice of what school their kids attend,” Todd said.
“One thing led to another and we’ve got a bus now.
“I can drive it on a class 1 licence as long as I get my P endorsement, which I am in the process of getting,” he said.
The Astills' 22-seater Toyota Coaster bus already has 19 students booked in at $50 a week for a seat. Todd sees the price as keeping “in line with what they were paying beforehand”.
Todd works for Hawke’s Bay Hockey as a coach. He spends his workdays coaching hockey at schools around Hastings and says his new role as bus driver “fits in” with what he is already doing, while Rachel works as a landscape gardener.
Rachel said a lot of people in their area didn’t know the bus terminations were happening until the couple started organising meetings.
“They were quite quickly getting on board because they wanted their kids to have consistency with their schooling and stay in the same school,” she said.
“It’s quite a dire situation for people and it does affect rural communities – there has been talk around here that people are questioning living in Central Hawke’s Bay for their kids’ schooling situations, if they can’t get their kids to school [then] moving or finding work closer to town.
“It does have a flow-on effect.”
The bus won’t only be used for school runs. Both Todd and Rachel want it to help Central Hawke’s Bay residents get around during the weekends and holidays, as well as being hired out.
“We don’t have a regular public bus service down here and our only bus as far as I know is several times a week,” said Rachel.
“It’s really hard for our people going to events and concerts, we’re just opening it up so there are more opportunities for people in CHB to have a transport option.”
Karamū High School principal Dionne Thomas said on one hand the Ministry of Education says the primary responsibility for transporting children to and from school rests with the caregiver, but on the other schools must make every effort to lift attendance and engagement.
“Hence, these are challenging times,” she said.
Spaces are still open for the Waipawa to Karamū High School return school bus and Todd and Rachel are open to corporate sponsorship. For more details contact hbbusservice@gmail.com.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and spent the last 15 years working in radio and media in Auckland, London, Berlin, and Napier. He reports on all stories relevant to residents of the region, with pieces on art, music, and culture.
