No child left behind principle

Queensland Transport service providers such as Young’s Bus Service sometimes receive complaints by parents claiming we left their child behind at a bus stop. The media hasn’t done our industry any favours by referring to a “No child left behind policy”. The reality is, there is no such policy. In fact, it is an offence to travel on public transport without paying a fare and for school students, it’s a breach of the code of conduct Section 7.3 Fare evasion – Code of Conduct for School Students Travelling on Buses

In April 2017, an article by The Courier Mail revealed “TransLink receives more than 1000 complaints about failure to pick up children, vulnerable passengers” from the Southeast since the 2014 financial year. The problem is, too many people are rorting the system. One source has revealed “Too many students are blatantly dodging bus fares under a system that was introduced to keep kids safe.” Former Transport Minister Scott Emerson has said “If banned students still attempt to travel and are turned away, it indicates a lack of responsibility on the part of the parents or guardians.”

What does exist however is a no child left behind principle. This was brought in after 13 year old Daniel Morcombe disappeared from a Sunshine Coast bus stop in 2003. All bus drivers are trained to make the necessary decisions when a child has no fare. We never put revenue before safety and on most occasions, a child will always be permitted to catch the bus. Our Operations Manager Phil Young said “If a child has accidentally forgotten their bus pass or has insufficient funds we’ll always let them on but if this behaviour repeats, we have no choice but to file a misconduct incident. We have found most of the times the child is not at fault but their parents fail to take responsibility for filing out the necessary paperwork or giving the child money.”

The solution to this problem is very simple. Parents/Guardians, remember that it is your responsibility to ensure that your child is responsible, confident and equipped to travel to and from school on a bus.

For more information visit our School Transport Services page here