Who we are and what we do?

At School Bus Services (SBS) our principle goal is to assist students to attend school regularly.

'Orange" school bus services are not available to the general public, they are operated by private operators under a contractual agreement with the Public Transport Authority.

SBS is responsible for providing eligible rural students and students with special needs, free transport assistance to and from school on contracted ‘Orange’ school buses. These services are critical to enable students to attend school regularly.

When a contract school bus service is not available for an eligible student, SBS may assist the student’s family by providing a conveyance allowance as a contribution towards the costs of transporting their children to and from school.

If you would like to find out more more information relating to our roles and responsibilities please read Roles and Responsibilities of School Bus Services Branch section in Student Transport Assistance Policy and Operational Guidelines.

Education support services

Contract school bus services used to transport students attending education support facilities generally provide a door-to-door service, have a bus aide to assist students and a mobile phone for communicating with parents/carers.

Service details

• Routes are approved by SBS, and designed to pick-up and drop-off students in the safest and most practical way, ensuring that no journey is longer than 90 minutes.
• Travel is usually free; however, there are situations where services pick-up students inside a designated Public Transport Area, in which case students may be required to pay a concessional fare.
• Approval of a students' entitlement to travel on a school bus means the student is entitled to be picked up and dropped off at designated locations along routes approved by SBS, and transported to and from their nearest appropriate school.
• Passenger loadings on contract school bus services are managed to ensure each student is provided with an allocated seat as standing passengers are not permitted.