Who are we and what do we do?

At School Bus Services our principal goal is to assist students to regularly attend school..

'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.

School Bus Services are 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.

For more information regarding the individual roles and responsibilities of these involved in the School Bus Services, please refer to the Student Transport Assistance Policy below.

Education Support Services

School Bus Services are committed to ensuring children, including those requiring transport to Education Support Centres and Schools, are being transported in the safest possible manner.

School Bus Services understand the importance of providing support for all passengers with disabilities and diverse learning needs and staff/bus staff that work with them. The vehicles used to transport education support students are often modified to accommodate the needs of students. These services will often include a Bus Aide to assist students travelling to and from Education Support Centres, Schools and Respite Centres.

In addition, because many education support students have mobility issues, they are picked up and dropped off on a door-to-door basis. All school bus drivers have a mobile phone and contact details for parents/carers to communicate as necessary.

Service Details

• Routes are approved by school bus services and designed to pick-up and drop-off students at approved stop locations in the safest and most practical way, ensuring that no journey is longer than 90 minutes.
• Approval of a students' eligibility to travel on a school bus means the student will be picked up and dropped off at designated locations along routes approved by school bus services 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 students are not permitted.