A Hunter mum had to bring her nine-year-old daughter to the university class she was teaching while a boy in year four walked five kilometres alone in the rain, such is the "intense disruption" bus cancellations are causing to families' lives.
As previously reported in the Newcastle Herald, pressure is mounting on Hunter Valley Buses after a string of both school and service bus cancellations with little or no notice or replacement services, which have left students as young as five stranded on the side of the road.
On Tuesday, school bus cancellations included the 2212 to Rutherford Technology High School, 1451 to Irrawang High, Irrawang Public and Raymond Terrace Public, the 1331 and 1332 to Seaham Public and six services in the afternoon.
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A spokesperson for CDC NSW [Hunter Valley Buses' parent company ComfortDelGro Corporation] said six school trips out of a scheduled 150 were cancelled on Tuesday morning and apologised for the inconvenience.
"The company's vision has always been prioritising school trips over service trips, however, we are still being impacted by the current wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as well as influenza and an industry wide labour shortage, hence, we were unable to find replacements for these trips," they said.
CDC NSW is hosting an information session for prospective drivers at its Thornton depot on Saturday.
Associate Professor Heather Sharp's daughter Lily catches a service bus at 7.57am from Medowie to St Peter's Primary School at Stockton.
The service is also patronised by members of the public and other students going to Stockton Public School and Newcastle High School.
Dr Sharp said the bus didn't arrive on three days last week, or on Monday this week.
"For us this caused intense disruption," said Dr Sharp, who also drops her son Michael at another school and her one-year-old Lara at daycare before work.
"By the time we realised it wasn't coming it was 8.20am and I was already on the way to work, so I had to do a u-turn, pick her up and take her to work with me.
"I can't be late for class with 90 second-year students.
"I then had to leave work to drive her back to school.
"My daughter did not get to school until 10.30am so her learning was disrupted and my workday was disrupted... she was really worried and upset that she got to school late."
Sayth Renshaw said his son Isaac, aged nine, walked more than five kilometres along the highway in the rain on Tuesday when his bus didn't arrive at around 8.20am to take him to Raymond Terrace Public.
Mr Renshaw said his son walked from his mum's house in Potter's Lane to his home in Raymond Terrace.
"He didn't know what to do," Mr Renshaw said.
Isaac's mum had left for work and his older sisters, who had already boarded their bus to high school, had the house key.
"It started raining and he knew he was supposed to go to school, but there was no way to communicate and no-one provided him with any advice. I didn't know anything was wrong, none of us knew anything was wrong, no-one informed us, so he turned up upset and absolutely drenched."
Mr Renshaw said Isaac arrived around 9.40am and he dropped him at school shortly before 10am.
He said his son was lucky, but he feared what would happen if he and other children kept being left stranded by cancellations.
"It's a matter of time until a kid gets picked up off a bus stop," he said.
"We need notifications early enough and via text message so we know there's action we need to take.
"The more time they're standing out there the more time something can happen.
"It's terrifying because we don't know which days he'll be left standing there and which days he won't.
"Other buses in the area could easily make a diversion if they know other buses are affected."
Dr Sharp said she had given up calling Hunter Valley Buses, saying she had "been met with rudeness, not had phone calls returned and after lodging complaints had not had any resolution", despite it being a matter of safety.
"We've got young people and children waiting on their own in public streets... it's become an epidemic issue with the buses now," she said.
"Instead of 40 or 50 kids catching the bus to school together you're now going to have that many parents driving their children and clogging the roads.
"Usually it's women who have to leave work and women's work being interrupted and we've already had interruptions due to teacher's strikes and shut-downs.
"It's another way mothers are being impacted on at work and being seen as unreliable... it has multiple flow-on effects."
Port Stephens MP Kate Washington said the cancellations were "not sustainable on any front".
"They seem to be getting worse," she said. "We've got to find a solution where we make the buses turn up and until then we do need a way of parents being notified of bus cancellations.
"On both fronts, they're failing."
The CDC NSW spokesperson said its "communications protocol" involved staff posting updates on a new Facebook group Hunter Valley Buses School Trips and its Twitter account.
"We are also contacting via phone call and letters schools' directors to keep them informed about these channels, so they can spread the message to parents and carers... we hope to release an SMS alert solution targeting the school community by subscription very soon."
Ms Washington said asking families to monitor social media about an essential service was "entirely unrealistic".
She said she was calling on the government and the company to "explore local solutions".
"This has been going on for six months. The government has to draw the line at some point and it should be now, because it's clear that Hunter Valley Buses has not been able to fix their mess."
A Transport for NSW spokesperson said bus services across the state, including those in the Hunter, were "feeling the impacts of the current wave of COVID-19".
"Transport for NSW is working closely to support local bus operators to limit service disruptions," the spokesperson said.
"The local bus operator is working to ensure reliable services are maintained and improving timely communication with parents and affected schools.
"The operator has also committed to establishing a Facebook page to help keep parents informed.
"Customers should also check transportnsw.info for the latest information on all school services."
A Department of Education spokesperson said schools "work closely with local bus companies to ensure timetables align as closely as possible and that schools receive warning of any changes to services".
"Schools use their usual parent contact channels to pass on any advice about such changes as soon as possible," the spokesperson said.
