{"id":335987,"date":"2026-03-18T16:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/335987\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T16:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T16:39:11","slug":"gisborne-school-bus-route-changes-paused-during-review-of-transport-policy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/335987\/","title":{"rendered":"Gisborne school bus route changes paused during review of transport policy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe are undertaking a review of our school transport assistance policy settings, so any changes are lasting and reflect up-to-date policy settings,\u201d Meffan said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEducation Minister Erica Stanford has been discussing current transport settings with the ministry for some time and, based on our advice, agreed last week to initiate a policy review.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll work with schools, communities and transport providers, and we\u2019ll keep people updated on next steps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gisborne Boys\u2019 High School principal Tom Cairns said local schools were \u201cvery happy to have been given a reset\u201d on the issue of the buses.<\/p>\n

\u201cClearly, there was a lot of upset, not only in Tair\u0101whiti, but right across regional New Zealand as the MOE transport management rolled out an archaic \u2018closest school policy\u2019 [from 1908],\u201d Cairns said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are thrilled that those with the power to make change have heard us and halted the implementation of a policy that would create a barrier to learning for so many of our students.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a network of schools in the region, we have been aligned in having this implementation of an unfit policy halted so that the policy itself could be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said the MOE transport review had not consulted the schools \u201cin any real and transparent manner\u201d and had not consulted parents or the community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt did not take into account the social and economic factors that impact our local context. For example, the loss of productivity for rural parents having to transport students to school. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe review creates an opportunity for MOE to consult with schools and community, to develop a fit-for-purpose policy that distinguishes between the needs of urban and rural settings and meets current and local contexts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ministry statement came the day after a letter sent on Monday by rural leaders, parents, school principals and Gisborne\u2019s mayor called for an \u201curgent\u201d meeting with Stanford over rural school bus cuts.<\/p>\n

Gisborne Herald queries emailed to the minister on Monday were passed on by the minister\u2019s office to the MOE, which responded on Tuesday evening.<\/p>\n

The ministry earlier said it needed to apply its policy consistently across the country to ensure fair and efficient allocation of transport funding.<\/a><\/p>\n

Meffan told the Gisborne Herald at the time that any changes to the school transport eligibility criteria would need to be considered \u201calongside wider Government commitments and budget decisions\u201d.<\/p>\n

The letter sent to Stanford said rural communities to the north, west and south of Gisborne were \u201cin distress\u201d after the earlier decision to reduce some routes.<\/p>\n

\"FormerFormer Federated Farmers meat and wool chairman Toby Williams, a parent affected by changes to rural school bus routes, was behind a letter to Education Minister Erica Stanford on Monday. Photo \/ Supplied<\/p>\n

Former Federated Farmers meat and wool chairman Toby Williams decided to send the letter. <\/p>\n

He was supported by Cairns, Mayor Rehette Stoltz, Sir Derek Lardelli (Ng\u0101ti Konohi, Ng\u0101ti Porou, Rongowhakaata), Trust Tair\u0101whiti CEO Doug Jones (Rongowhakaata, Ng\u0101i T\u0101manuhiri, Ng\u0101ti Kahungunu), Gisborne-Wairoa Federated Farmers president Charlie Reynolds, Gisborne Girls\u2019 High School principal Bindy Hannah and more.<\/p>\n

The Wh\u0101ng\u0101r\u0101 farmer has two sons who use a rural school bus to get to Gisborne Boys\u2019 High.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was in Federated Farmers, I probably spent about 18 months working with the ministry and the minister on this issue [rural school buses], trying to get something resolved,\u201d Williams told the Gisborne Herald.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen your own kids are affected, it suddenly makes it much more personal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reacting to news of the pause on changes, Williams said it was \u201camazing\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy kids, especially, were really relieved and, as the community found out, we\u2019ve had the relief wave roll through. We\u2019re also letting people know that this is a pause, not a full reversal. We\u2019re not going to stay like this forever.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he still expected some changes, he hoped the ministry would take into account the views of stakeholders and give time for consultation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithout community input and without bus company and school input, you\u2019ve just got a bureaucrat in Wellington who is drawing lines on a map, going, \u2018I think a bus route looks pretty good there\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it needs to change, I have no issue with it changing personally, but let\u2019s make sure it is fit for purpose with modern maps and modern reasoning behind what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe are undertaking a review of our school transport assistance policy settings, so any changes are lasting and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":335988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[112367,30482,4500,2837,84,14724,12506,42,28874,43,1118,43667,7254,762,35299,763,63502,4062,1961,40,38,41,39,112,6123,379],"class_list":["post-335987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-assistance","tag-bus","tag-changes","tag-during","tag-education","tag-further","tag-gisborne","tag-headlines","tag-ministry","tag-news","tag-of","tag-paused","tag-policy","tag-review","tag-reviewed","tag-reviews","tag-route","tag-school","tag-this","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-transport","tag-while","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=335987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/335987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/335988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=335987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=335987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=335987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}