A Loftus mother is furious that a school bus service has been unreliable on her daughter’s first week of a new school year.
Janelle McLellan says her daughter, who started high school for the first time this year, was left stranded by her bus on the way to The Jannali High School.
Mrs McLellan says the bus was so full that other students also missed out on getting to school on time.
“It picks up students at 7.57am from Fourth Avenue, and on my daughter’s first day, she was picked up, no problem, because there was only year 7, 11 and 12 on the bus,” she said.
“But when the rest of the school started, the driver didn’t pick up the students who were on the end of the line. The bus was ridiculously full.”
Mrs McLellan says she took time off work to drive her daughter to school.
“It’s a good hour to walk to school and there’s no way she’d get there on time anyway,” she said.
“But I wouldn’t want her to walk on her own. She’s only 12. A lot of kids are now catching the train or getting a lift to school as they are worried they will miss the bus.”
A spokeswoman for Transdev, the bus company in charge of route 991, says it was made aware of overcrowding of the 7.40am service from Yarrawarrah to Jannali via Loftus as students resumed school last week.
She says requests were sent to Transdev’s scheduling department immediately in response to the large volume of school students travelling on this service.
“Stand-by vehicles have been made available in the event of a bus reaching its patronage capacity during peak hour,” she said.
“Transdev suggests that any feedback or enquiry on this matter to be addressed via 131 500 or transportnsw.info to assist with investigations and resolutions.”
