The Year 7 students from south of the railway line between Salt Pan Creek and Little Salt Pan Creek, face a 2km walk to a bus stop and then have to catch the bus to Padstow and wait for a second to take them out to Menai – and it is expected to only get worse with an extra 100 or more students every year in the new catchment.
“It has turned into a nightmare for some parents and especially their young children,” said Andrew Molloy, a spokesperson for concerned parents.
“Since at least 1973, a bus has run from One Tree Point to Picnic Point High School and back in the afternoon. The Department of Education changed the catchment area and did not liaise with the Department of Transport to organise a like-for-like service.”
At the request of Councillors Linda Downey and David Walsh, the council has written to NSW Minister for Education, Sarah Mitchell and Transport Minister David Elliot, calling on them to “stop putting school children’s lives at risk and honour a promise to provide students with a direct bus service from Padstow North and Padstow Heights to Menai High School”.
Ms Downey says parents have every right to complain about their children’s safety being put at risk as they have to cross a number of busy roads to catch the bus and are also spending additional hours travelling to and from school.
“Nobody in the Padstow Heights community with a child, a grandchild or niece and nephew can understand it,” she said.
“We all just want to make sure those students are safe.”
State MP for East Hills, Wendy Lindsay, says she has been advocating for the bus, but has been told by Transdev that “unfortunately, following consultation with Transport for NSW, given the current enrolment numbers at Menai High School, and existing bus services in close proximity to students living in Padstow Heights, a dedicated bus service is not approved at this time”.
“However that this may change if enrolment numbers change.”
Mr Molloy said: “It is astonishing how we have been treated as a community.”
