"No child left behind"

[Skindog the Hawk]

School bus policy abusers to be banned

One in 12 Gold Coast children are abusing Queensland's "no child left behind" school bus policy, Transport Minister Scott Emerson says.

I know it's Queensland (although only just), but what are your thoughts on the existing policy, which is similar to the NSW one? IMHO the scenario that all the kids who can't afford to travel (or are too lazy to walk) are going to be molested/kidnapped/murdered is a bit of scaremongering and one that certain little $h!t$ take advantage of (by not paying and flaunting it).

Admittedly all it will take is for another Daniel Morecombe situation to occur and people will get vocal about it, however isn't it wrong to have the kids think that public transport is a free taxi-type service they can abuse??

SD.

[thorny_116]

Drivers are on a hiding to nothing with this. On the one hand all passengers are required to pay or have a valid ticket but if it's a child you can't refuse to carry them if they don't. BTW, you can also get into trouble if you ask a passenger to leave the bus if they don't have a ticket in the pre-pay areas. (STA).
And as one driver at W found out, you can't even remind a child that they are required to have a ticket or pay. Mummy complains and the driver cops a warning.

Editted: Forgot to add that the policy may as well be all children travel for free. Why should the ones who do the right thing be penalised.

[booma]

Daniel Morcombe

[Glen]

I saw a good situation at Macquarie Centre in these past school holidays.

Scraggy haired teenage boy with skateboard gets on STA bus, walks past driver, walks past ticket machine, offers no money and no ticket.

Driver hollers for him to come back and when kid says he has no money driver tells him to get off and call his parents. "Ring 1800 REVERSE" the driver says.

Off we go and driver remarks to a passenger up the front "If he'd have said he had no money I'd have carried him but they take us for an idiot by just walking past"

How cool is that in this day and age!

[Skindog the Hawk]

I saw a good situation at Macquarie Centre in these past school holidays.

Scraggy haired teenage boy with skateboard gets on STA bus, walks past driver, walks past ticket machine, offers no money and no ticket.

Driver hollers for him to come back and when kid says he has no money driver tells him to get off and call his parents. "Ring 1800 REVERSE" the driver says.

Off we go and driver remarks to a passenger up the front "If he'd have said he had no money I'd have carried him but they take us for an idiot by just walking past"

How cool is that in this day and age!

Agreed - definitely something that should happen more often IMHO.

Daniel Morcombe

Unfortunate situation. Would we be having this discussion if it had happened if he had been waiting for his mother to come pick him up (rather than being the poor sod waiting for the bus)???

SD.

[Albatross]

If his mother was on her way to pick him up, I highly doubt she would have been told to "not pick anybody else up because you are already 50 minutes late"

On the balance of it all, there might be in every 100 who abuse the no child left behind policy en masse, and maybe a few more on top of that who casually abuse it-getting a free ride when they were going to walk anyway or ride their bike or simply not travel full stop, so the amount of revenue lost wouldn't be that significant. I would wager it's less than the amount spent on 3 or 4 rounds of searches, a large police investigation and manhunt and what is gearing up to be a long and protracted trial for the man alleged of killing Daniel Morcombe. At the end of the day I say nobody should be refused access to a bus because of not having money, ever. The monetary loss would be insignificant compared to the potential loss if something bad happens in terms of money wasted, as well as the toll that being involved in such a case takes on all involved.

[eddy]

One of the problems is that the bus pass covers kids outside a certain radius from the school but as you cannot walk there directly the kid may have to walk twice that distance by road and now the kids are have to wear a hat to ride a bike they just get on the bus.
Some drivers do not care at all where others police it. Some kids have spent their money at the school canteen and some come from a poor family. Makes me glad i am not a bus driver although i keep my authorisation up just in case.
I do think the kid who just ignored the driver was extremely rude though.

[Andy Capp]

Bus drivers are in a no win situation when it comes to children travelling on buses on their own , full stop .

If you work for a company that has understanding inspectors , who gives a ---- , let the kids on and don't worry .

Any kid who looks 18 and under can ride free on my bus anytime , Ok ask for a fare , ask questions , but in the end , kids safe getting to and from home is all that matters.

[Glen]

I do think it strange though that there is an expectation that kids can catch a bus free if they have no money.

Would this kid have got a free movie or a free lunch at Macquarie Centre?

I doubt it.

[Andy Capp]

Not strange , no expectation , no free movie , no free lunch , just the way it is when it comes to kids and buses .

Daniel Morcombe.

[White Super Power]

Although I drive in Brisbane I recently had two separate cases where kids got on my bus and their Go Card came up No Value
In the first case the young girl was (IMO) honestly suprised and apologized, I said to her you'll be ok just remember to put some money on your card tonight. Similar story with the second case but the kid only had a dollar and offered me the coin, I said no keep it and once again make sure you put some money on your card. In both cases the kids were very grateful.

[tonyp]

Bus drivers are in a no win situation when it comes to children travelling on buses on their own , full stop .

If you work for a company that has understanding inspectors , who gives a ---- , let the kids on and don't worry .

Any kid who looks 18 and under can ride free on my bus anytime , Ok ask for a fare , ask questions , but in the end , kids safe getting to and from home is all that matters.

That's a humane and sensible attitude (and Albatross' post too). What else can you do? Public transport is run as a community service obligation (among other reasons). Child safety is one of the expectations of it. Hopefully there are no anal management types who would penalise a driver for allowing a slip through the rules in this case.

[OKO]

Friday night, around 2200. Three boys, with skateboards, board the bus. Oldest of them appears to be 11 or 12. Politely explains they have no money and need a lift.

Now for the $64,000.00 question. Why the fark would I refuse ?

[chuboy]

Friday night, around 2200. Three boys, with skateboards, board the bus. Oldest of them appears to be 11 or 12. Politely explains they have no money and need a lift.

Now for the $64,000.00 question. Why the fark would I refuse ?

Or, the $128,000 question - what the fark are three boys, the oldest of which being 12 years of age, doing on their own around the streets (with no money at that) at 10 o'clock on a Friday night?

[tonyp]

Or, the $128,000 question - what that fark are three boys, the oldest of which being 12 years of age, doing on their own around the streets (with no money at that) at 10 o'clock on a Friday night?

Post-natal abdication of parental responsibility.

[Derwent]

Of a kid comes up to me and says politely that they are short or have no money and asks for a ride I will generally let them on.
If they are habitual offenders in this regard I will be less tolerant, but doing a regular school run most of the time I have an option of just taking it up with the school.
When on service work it would depend on age.
Ten year old no question.
16-17 year old bogan with a bunch of mates, either pay up or borrow off your mates or find another way.
How politely you ask makes a difference too.
Walk on arrogantly and don't even offer or ask and you can walk right back off again.

[Skindog the Hawk]

I'm on holidays in Canada at the moment and went tripping on the Toronto system (TTP - buses, streetcars, metro) during the day. Bought my day ticket from the Metro station (they're the scratchcards...yes, like the Victorian ones from the Kennett years!) and then after that got on a streetcar but didn't show it on boarding, just looked at the driver and walked on. I sat down, the driver waited until everyone had boarded and then got up, walked down to where I was sitting and asked for my ticket. I sheepishly looked at him, produced it and apologised profusely, but I'm in no doubt that he would have thrown my 30-something-year-old arse off the bus.

FWIW, people here have a helluva lot more respect from their PT here in Canada. I'm heading to New York and Portland next week, it'll be interesting to see what I find.

SD.

[tonyp]

I'm on holidays in Canada at the moment and went tripping on the Toronto system (TTP - buses, streetcars, metro) during the day. Bought my day ticket from the Metro station (they're the scratchcards...yes, like the Victorian ones from the Kennett years!) and then after that got on a streetcar but didn't show it on boarding, just looked at the driver and walked on. I sat down, the driver waited until everyone had boarded and then got up, walked down to where I was sitting and asked for my ticket. I sheepishly looked at him, produced it and apologised profusely, but I'm in no doubt that he would have thrown my 30-something-year-old arse off the bus.

FWIW, people here have a helluva lot more respect from their PT here in Canada. I'm heading to New York and Portland next week, it'll be interesting to see what I find.

SD.

People enter past the driver in a streetcar? Rather quaint and out of date. OT, will be interested in your observations on the Portland streetcars.

[Skindog the Hawk]

People enter past the driver in a streetcar? Rather quaint and out of date. OT, will be interested in your observations on the Portland streetcars.

Think of the Toronto ones as being more like Melbourne Z-class trams, except they're single-ended, which means that each turnaround requires a loop (rather than just changing ends). Also, they're on trolley wires rather than pans.

FWIW, Portland I'm there for 5 days, and then I have a half-day in San Fran on the way out....so I'll get some pics - might have to find a place to post them though.

SD.