SCHOOL BUS SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 255, 24 July 1937, Page 8

SCHOOL BUS SERVICE

Standard Good as That Being Paid For DRIVERS’ DISPUTE Tito willingness of passenger, transport operators to co-operate with the Government in providing school bus services in New Zealand was stressed by Mr. 11. J.'Knight. Wellington, secretary of the New Zealand Passenger Service Federation and the New Zealand 'Transport Alliance, in a statement at the conciliation council hearing of the drivers' ■■ dispute which continued vesterday. The commissioner, Mr. M. j. Reardon, presided.

’ The Education Department was apparently concentrating on a system of zoning throughout the country, closing isolated schools where they thought necessary, and providing some form of transport to schools, lie said. The view of the operators was that wherever possilde, the Government should make use of the existing services available, and should not provide any duplicate ■ services unless it was found unavoidable. The Education Department maintained the quotations made by operators for school services were, too high, and were tending to establish their own services. These services could be operated without a licence provided they were not used to carry persons other than school children or school teachers. In the majority of cases, the department was allowing teachers or some other person to drive buses, and it was doubtful whether these people were receiving anything near the equivalent of the award rates of pay. In some eases proprietors of existing bus services were willing to undertake to transport school children nt cost, but the department had to realise the private operator had these costs to meet, and could not give a quote which did not at least cover them. Commenting on the condition of school buses, a question which had aroused considerable comment lately. Mr. Knight said it was unnecessary to have any such bus licensed, and it was only recently that a certificate of roadworthiness was required by the Government. The standard of bus being provided by operators at present was as high as that being paid tor. If the department desired the same high standard obtained in the case of ordinary cars and buses for transport purposes, operators would provide them but would do so only on an economic basis. Progress of Dispute. At the conclusion of yesterday’s hearing of the drivers’ dispute, it was decided an adjournment should be held until the middle of September to enable both parties to go fully into the questions on which no settlement had been reached. ' Up to the present an agreement has been reached on a number of clauses, and on other clauses there has been a. provisional agreement. The major questions of wages and hours, however, remain unsettled.