It was one of those sickening moments of realisation for a young mum. 'The school bus pulled up and my six-year-old daughter wasn't on it.”

Tracey Came of Welcome Bay was overcome by dark thoughts. 'I panicked and screamed at the driver: ‘Have you seen my girl, where is she?'”

Rural bus mums Steph Lyford and Jenny Brennan, pictured with their children, aren't enjoying the rejigged school bus service in Tauranga. Photo: Bruce Barnard.

Marnie had been on the bus. But she became confused by a new school route and demanded to be let off. The six-year-old was left on a busy main thoroughfare.

'That was dangerous in itself and should not have happened” says Tracey.

This is just one story in a litany of complaints and concerns about bad communication, timetable anomalies, reduced services, revamped services, buses not turning up or stopping and children abandoned on the roadside around urban and rural Tauranga.

'I don't want to appear a complainer,” says Tracey, 'but we did not have these problems last year when the school bus stopped at the top of the drive.”

Since then there's been an overhaul of both rural and urban school bus services, timetables and fares.

Ministry of Education-funded school bus services to rural homes like Tracey's have been hit by changes.

'It's a mess,” she says. 'It's not a school bus service for rural kids anymore. There are business imperatives here, user-pays which may seem fair but we pay our taxes too.”

Now, every morning Tracey has to drive Marnie two kilometres down the road to meet the bus – and to pick her up in the afternoon.

Neighbour and mate Steph Lyford went to Bayline, the bus company which used to drop her six-year-old boy Matt at the top of the same rural driveway as Marnie.

'Bayline was sympathetic, they understood,” says Steph. But it came down to dollars.

There's a $3000 shortfall in funding for the bus. And if they wanted the old reliable door-to-door service restored they'd have to pay.

'That extra 2km would cost us $31 a day,” she says. 'I feel gutted because it would not cost $31 to drive that bus up the road. And we would need to come up with an extra couple of passengers to make it work for their funding criteria.”

And no – walking isn't an option according to Steph.

'Kaitemako Rd is a hazard,” she explains. 'It's main, 100km/h road, there are quarry trucks and there's no berm to walk on. I wouldn't walk up there. And no responsible mother would let their child walk up there either.”

Education provider Multiserve handle rural bus services, and regional transport manager Melissa Winter says national policy is parents have to contribute up to 2.4km of their children's travel.

'Schools can no longer afford to provide services over and above what the Ministry is funding them for,” says Melissa.

'That's why the bus can't now go any further up Kaitemako Road. Parents have been given a price if that's what they want to do.”

Moving onto bus service reliability and there's a long loud sigh and lots of anecdotes from Tracey and Steph.

'Last week it was late up to 30 minutes each day,” says a frustrated Steph. 'It's also worrying for parents who are sitting and waiting!”

Then the bus would drive on by. 'We were shouting and waving out and the kids would still be on the bus. It's a designated stop but the driver didn't know.”

The school bus is always waiting when Matt gets out of school at 3pm. But it disappears on another route before returning to pick him up at 3.30pm.

'Half an hour is a long time for a six-year-old to be hanging round,” says Steph.

'I feel for the bus drivers because they're copping it from angry parents meeting their kids. It's not their fault.”

The bus line admitted to teething problems. 'The lady at Bayline told me all she's done for two weeks is field complaints about buses not going where they used to go and kids not getting picked up.”

Melissa agrees there's been teething issues with rural funded school bus services. 'That's for sure,” she says. 'But that's pretty normal for this time of the year and we're working it through.”

The mums also point to what they describe as an 'absurd situation” at their bus stop where urban and rural services overlap.

'There are intermediate and college kids waiting with our primary school children but the bus drives past because for them, the stop is not zoned rural.”

Both Steph and Tracey say the situation is 'a mess”.

'It's not assisting rural kids and it is complicating life for working rural families. Urban kids seem to have it all,” says Tracey.

For Tracey the problem is with communication. 'There was no consultation, no discussion, no communication from the companies. Parents needed clarity about the changes so they could organise their lives.”

She also understands bus companies can't be all things for all people. 'Everyone will have their own personal gripe.”

For her part Melissa she's 'working quickly” on ongoing issues. And she's constantly talking to schools and parents.

In town Anita Trappitt messaged SunLive with her own gripe about urban school bus services.

'I've told BayBus their school bus routes and times need a total overhaul,” says Anita.

She can't understand why students can't congregate at any sign-posted bus stop along a designated bus route and be picked up for school, 'especially when we are paying for the service”.

'Sorry,” says an angry Anita. 'But this isn't good enough. There are heaps of parents in a similar situation.”