Some School Buses “A Disgrace”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31145, 23 August 1966, Page 14

Some School Buses “A Disgrace”

(From Our Own Reporter) TIMARU, August 22. Some school buses in New Zealand were “an absolute disgrace” and schoolchildren deserved better, the president of the Road Passenger Services Association (Mr A. C. Seivewright) told the annual convention of the association at Timaru today.

The Education Department “should pay the school bus operator a decent rate.” so he could “purchase a decent bus and put some money away for the future to sustain his services,” Mr Seivewright said. “I have tussled with the education authorities on numerous occasions, and they have been most courteous. I do not blame these men for trying to secure a bargain for the department. Those I blame are the politicians, and the best thing we can do is to go and see the Minister of Education, and if We go along emphatically, and with a determined attitude, I think we will get somewhere. The people who will help us will be the parents,” said Mr Seivewright. The president of the School Contractors’ Association (Mr W. S. Aitken, <rf Geraldine) endorsed what Mr Seivewright said regarding sub-standard vehicles, but added that there were also many excellent vehicles used as school buses. Those who ran school buses were criticised through New Zealand for not having first-class vehicles. The criti-

cism was unfair, unjust, and misdirected. Recently, said Mr Aitken, several changes had occurred in the department’s school transport section. Chief officers had come from other departments, including the Rehabilitation Department, to assume control of the school transport section. “Without experience, you are lost,” he said.