ONE Glenthompson family was almost left stranded recently after they inadvertently discovered that the school bus their secondary school aged child had been travelling on for the past two years to Hamilton, was at capacity and a seat was no longer available.

However, after much angst and multiple phone calls to the Victorian Government’s Student Travel Assistance program, Lowan MP, Emma Kealy’s office, and an email to education minister, Ben Carroll’s office, at the eleventh hour last Thursday evening at 6.13pm, ‘miraculously’ the family had a travel offer approved.

Glenn Welsh and his partner, Josie live and run a business in the Glenthompson area, but plans went awry recently when they found out their secondary school aged child who is starting back at school this week, no longer had a seat on Route 9 from Glenthompson to Hamilton.

“There’s a new system that requires you to log onto the Student Travel Assistance Portal and reserve a seat on a government website.

“We did that last year in November, but we were notified that our child was on a waitlist.

“We tried to ring somebody, but there was just no one to help. We contacted the school but it’s out of their hands.”

An email from their child’s school, who contacted the local Department of Education school bus coordinator on the family’s behalf, said they were advised that there were other students waitlisted for Route 9 as well.

Mr Welsh said he personally knew of families from Lake Bolac that had changed schools from that area to Hamilton, and that was potentially what caused the excess in students requiring travel on Route 9.

“The government has changed the system … it’s just crazy.”

When asked what they would have done for an alternative means of transporting their child to school Mr Welsh said “nothing”.

“What can we do?” he asked.

“It’s 53 kilometres to Hamilton.

“We’re running a business, and we have no means of getting our child to school in Hamilton.”

The Victorian Government website acknowledged that on some services the demand for seats can exceed the carrying capacity of the bus.

It said in these situations, eligible government and non-government school students previously approved to travel would be granted first priority of access.

This begged the question why a student who had travelled on the bus for two years previously had suddenly been ‘bumped’ from the passenger list in preference of new students travelling on Route 9.

On Thursday afternoon Mr Welsh’s partner, Josie again rang the Student Travel Assistance program in desperation but the family was only offered concessions to travel on public transport to get to school.

“Josie explained that unlike Melbourne, we don’t have running trains and buses,” Mr Welsh said.

“The public bus does run through Glenthompson, but the timetable doesn’t suit school hours or have the option to get (our child) to (school).”

Mr Welsh said aside from that, their child had been listed on the “number 10 bus from Dunkeld - the wrong bus”.

“Their online system when we applied specifically asked what school (our) student and what bus route they travel on. We checked the application and we definitely ticked Route 9,” he said.

“The lady said that they knew there was a lot of students not approved to travel and that they were working the Friday (public holiday) to try to sort it out.

“No wonder Victoria is broke.”

Mr Welsh said he and his family were concerned about just how many parents/students may have missed out on a seat to get their children to school because of this fiasco.

Ms Kealy said it sounded like there had been a few hiccups in the transition to the online Student Travel Assistance Portal.

“I’m aware that there have been issues with the public school bus system in the electorate,” she said.

“Unfortunately, there have been indications that the Labor Government is seeking to cut back on its responsibility to transport kids to school.

“The government has always had responsibility for managing school bus transportation, but all this stress and anxiety has resulted in kids getting kicked off their local school bus.

“It’s concerning that staff had to work back on the public holiday to try and sort this mess out for a number of families.

“The government can’t manage money, can’t manage projects and now it seems they can’t even manage to get our kids to school.”

Ms Kealy said it was positive that a seat had been found for this particular local family, but she was concerned about how many families may have been in the same boat and still hadn’t been granted approval for travel on their local bus.

The Spectator sent an email to Minister Carroll’s office to which a Department of Education spokesperson replied and said,

“Mr Welsh’s (child) has been approved for travel … in 2024.”

The response said the Department of Education works with schools to ensure the School Bus Program is administered to ensure fairness, equity and appropriate access for eligible travellers.

Priority is given to students attending government schools, with spaces provided for students at non-government schools, if available.