Article: Bus twice leaves students in the lurch at Spring Hill

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Bus twice leaves students in the lurch at Spring Hill

Bus twice leaves students in the lurch at Spring Hill

MARTIN Beare fears for his 10-year-old son?s safety after Brisbane City Council buses left him stranded twice.
Mr Beare said his son Sullivan watched the 321 bus drive past the Gregory Tce stop, outside St Joseph?s College, without stopping on January 27 and February 2.

And the Windsor resident is worried it will become a regular problem.

?I think this service is not satisfactory. It has left children as young as 10 unsupervised waiting for another 30 minutes,?? Mr Beare said. ?I am worried that this service will continue to be unreliable.??

Mr Beare said he had accompanied his son to the bus stop on one occasion and had himself seen the bus drive by, despite his son trying to flag it down.
Between five and 10 other children had been left behind on both occasions, Mr Beare said.

St Joseph?s College Gregory Terrace dean of students David Carroll said similar incidents took place several times last year.

?We have had situations where the council bus has not stopped. We don?t know why that takes place,?? he said. ?It is not a regular occurrence but it is an occurrence and our worry is for the safety of our kids.??

Council Public Transport chairwoman Jane Prentice said the driver of the bus had been forced to pull up in front of the bays because there had been three private coaches at the two-bay stop.

?It seems that on one of those occasions the child did not see the bus, which was there waiting for him,? Cr Prentice said.
?We?ll be investigating whether we need to increase the length of the stop.?

A spokesman for Translink , which co-ordinates public transport, said the organisation was aware of Mr Beare?s concerns.

Cr David Hinchliffe (Central) said he had contacted Brisbane Transport regarding the issue, but no explanation had been given as to why the driver had not pulled over when Mr Beare had been at the stop.