Bus Information and Guidelines
Catastrophic Fire Days 2023
General Information
A total of 12 buses currently feed Eastern Fleurieu School (EFS) with over 500 of our students accessing these for transport to and from school each day. At EFS we have a process for assessing a student’s eligibility against the Department for Education’s (DfE’s) Transport Policy that can be viewed on the DfE website.
Several School Buses are provided, free of charge, for students who meet the criteria which is, basically, residing more than 5km from the nearest Government School (or in the case of EFS the nearest Campus) within the catchment area for that school – which becomes the “zone” for the purpose of bus travel - as determined by the Transport Unit of DfE. They are provided for Primary School and Secondary School students to get to and from school.
At EFS we consider applications for temporary travel on the DfE-provided buses for travel to Work Experience, organised Sport’s Training and organised Youth Services. This is assessed on availability of seats and other criteria within the Transport Policy. The buses are NOT for travelling to and from a friend’s place for a visit or sleepover. Buses are not provided as a taxi service.
DfE doesn’t own enough buses for every school in the state so they contract them to various companies and the school manages the approval for travel.
The following buses feed our school.
DfE-provided:
Ashbourne/Meadows – Willunga Charters contracted to provide this service
Timetable Ashbourne/Meadows School Bus (As at July 2023)
Lake Plains/Langhorne Creek – also Willunga Charters
Timetable Lake Plains/Langhorne Creek School Bus 2023
Kuitpo/Meadows - this takes in Prospect Hill and is express from Meadows – LinkSA contracted
Langhorne Creek/Mulgundawah – LinkSA contracted. The outer southern limit being Brinkley Road intersection on Wellington Road
Milang/Finniss – LinkSA contracted and starting in Milang
Milang/Clayton – LinkSA contracted and starting in Clayton, travelling through Milang and onto Strathalbyn
Woodchester/Bletchley/Hartley – LinkSA contracted. The outer Eastern limit of the catchment area being for families residing on the Strathalbyn (Western) side of the South Eastern Freeway
DfE also provide 1 smaller bus for eligible students’ transport from:
Paris Creek – the general area this covers is Old Bull Creek Road.
Students residing in and around Macclesfield / Bugle Ranges and Highland Valley are provided with a bus service by DfE that goes to Mt Barker High School.
SouthLink operates a “Strathalbyn School Bus Loop” Passenger Service 854 that travels along Alexandrina Road (formerly Sandergrove Road) to Michelmore Road, around Burnside and around Willyaroo for students who live closer than 5km from the school. These students are considered “in zone” for EFS but not eligible for DfE-provided transport by bus. This is a user-pay passenger service operated by SouthLink. Information and fares are available from their website.
Families living in Mt Barker for whom EFS is their school of choice can access Adelaide Metro Passenger Service 852 that travels through Mt Barker and Wistow to Strathalbyn. These students are considered “out of zone” as determined by the DfE bus catchment area. This is a user-pay passenger ‘country’ service operated by Adelaide Metro/Southlink. Information and fares are available from their website or by phoning Southlink Mt Barker 83397544.
LinkSA Murray Bridge operates Murray Bridge Passenger Service that travels through Kanmantoo and Callington for families for whom EFS is their school of choice. These students are considered “out of zone” as determined by the DfE bus catchment area. This is a user-pay passenger service and information is available on the LinkSA website.
As passenger services the bus company cannot change their timetable to align with early school dismissal and members of the public can also travel on the bus. The school, therefore, does not assess students for travel or keep a manifest of passengers.
Until the end of 2021 there had been a School Bus Service to Goolwa however this is no longer in place as the Department for Education has established Goolwa High School for those families to access and, as such, provided a bus to that school.
From time to time a bus may be considered “at capacity” but empty seats appear. We are obliged to provide a seat for every eligible traveller who has indicated they require access to the DfE-provided bus service. They may not access the bus every day, some students have shared care arrangements and require access to 2 different buses or students are absent from school for various reasons.
We advise parents to be at the stop 5 minutes before the scheduled time when we advise them of the times at their designated stop.
We ask parents/caregivers of Primary-school aged students (upto and including year 6) to wait with the child until they board the bus in the morning and to be at the stop to greet the bus in the afternoon.
If a family has an older sibling and they are happy for that sibling to care for the Primary-school aged child around the bus they can advise the driver of that arrangement.
If there becomes an issue with a responsible adult not being at the stop to meet the student (or an arrangement in place as above) we advise the driver will wait up to 2 minutes from the scheduled time and will then continue the bus run with the student still on board. The driver will contact the Strathalbyn R-6 Campus of the situation, then return the student to the Strathalbyn R-6 Campus. EFS Staff will have the student wait with them while they make contact with the student’s emergency contacts we have on record.
BUS PASSES:
Bus Passes for LinkSA School Bus Runs are provided by LinkSA for Primary School students. EFS student ID Card is used for Secondary School students. These are scanned when boarding the bus. If students don’t have a card they need to arrange a replacement with the LinkSA bus driver (Primary students) or EFS (Secondary students – via Student Services). Replacement cards cost $2.
The Ashbourne/Meadows, Lake Plains/Langhorne Creek and Paris Creek services have weekly manifests that are checked off by the driver as students board.
Adelaide Metro, SouthLink and Murray Bridge Passenger Service require a pre-purchased ticket. Passengers are offered a form (referred to as a "Gold Form"), available from the provider for student concession, that is brought to EFS and stamped so concession can be applied by the provider. See their website for more information and how to contact them. These buses are not managed by the school.
An application to travel regularly or temporarily is required for all but the passenger services before travel can commence.
Forms for assessment for travel and temporary travel are available from our website and need to be approved by EFS before travel can begin.
Application for Assessment for Bus Travel
Application for Temporary Bus Use
A basic map showing the DfE-provided bus routes is below.
Further information for bus users;
Catastrophic Fire Days 2023
To discuss the bus services that feed our school contact Becky Hawkey on 85362455 or by email Becky.Hawkey625@schools.sa.edu.au
Regional bus services review
The review of regional bus services, commissioned by the state government, is complete.
The School-transport-policy will remain in place. All students, including non-government school students, will continue to be eligible for transport assistance if they reside 5km or more from their nearest appropriate government school.
School bus travel for ineligible non-government school students in regional SA will be subsidised through a $1 million grant to each of the 2 non-government school sectors.
Review-of-regional-bus-services
EFS_Submission_yourSAy_Review_of_Regional_School_Bus_Services_in_SA_14_February_2019