Thursday, 5 February 2026

 Matthew GUY (Bulleen) (17:19): (1513) My matter tonight is to the Minister for Public and Active Transport, and my action I am seeking is to conduct an immediate audit of the Melbourne bus operators to ascertain how many buses are at capacity and are thus leaving children on the side of the road during school pick-up and drop-off hours. It has come to my attention from a number of schools, particularly in growth areas and in the outer north-east of Melbourne, that in this school year, as schools have returned for the last week and a half, many buses are now at absolute capacity – these are buses on regular bus routes, not school buses – and as a consequence bus drivers are not able to take the children who are seeking to take the bus to school because of kids now catching the bus and the capacity issues being so great that kids are being left on the side of the road. I understand there are at least half-a-dozen schools, large schools, in active discussion with the Department of Transport and Planning seeking to rectify this circumstance due to the safety concerns you would expect, particularly for younger kids, let us say, in high school, in year 7, year 8, and girls schools in particular, where kids are being left on the side of the road because capacity issues are seeing those children unable to board. If the buses are at crush capacity, the drivers are not going to take more people on them quite obviously. They have a responsibility and a duty of care, and they certainly would not break that.

What we do need to know is how many of these routes are at capacity and how many school students are suffering as a result. Parents, quite obviously, me included, drop their children off at a bus stop in the morning expecting not only that the bus will turn up but that they will be able to get on it, and that is a reasonable expectation from every parent across the metropolitan area and I understand in some regional areas. So I am asking the minister, through her department, to conduct this audit for the sake of the safety and security of all children who take buses to school and for the obvious wellbeing of all children and the bus drivers involved.