Schoolchildren are being left stranded as a lack of local high schools and a soaring population compounds transport woes in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.
Bus services are failing to keep up with demand as the number of residents of high school age continues to climb.
A community profile commissioned by Whittlesea council last year projected that by 2018 the number of people under 17 living in Mernda and Doreen would rise by 4162, more than 68 per cent, and make up more than 31 per cent of the population.
Parents have been increasingly taking the issue of inadequate public transport and local school options to local Yan Yean MP Danielle Green, community Facebook groups and Whittlesea council forums.
Doreen father of four Michael Harding said his two eldest children sat like sardines on the 572 bus from Doreen to University Hill to get to Mill Park Lakes Secondary College.
He said Madison, 14, and Mitchell, 16, told him that on one day last week the 7.13am Dysons bus was so full it had to pass students waiting at bus stops before reaching Mernda Village Drive, just two stops from the beginning of the route.
According to a Dysons staff member, the bus has room for between 41 and 45 seated passengers and about 20 standing.
“They’re all squished up the back and my kids are just lucky they’re the first on and the last off,” Mr Harding said.
“The services just don’t match the growth of the area.”
Ms Green said the root of the problem was a lack of high schools in the area.
“Hazel Glen College will have year 7s this year, but that leaves thousands of kids [between years 8 and 12] to travel out of the district for school,” she said. “In the meantime we need buses.”
Since coming to office, the Labor state government has ripped up the former Napthine government’s plans for Mill Park Lakes East Primary School and instead will fund a new Mernda P-12 school in Breadalbane Avenue. Construction is due to begin late this year.
Last month in State Parliament, Ms Green raised the issue of inadequate bus services, calling on Public Transport Minister Jacinta Allan to examine the lack of access for Yan Yean families who need to get teens to school.
The government was looking at the issue to determine what could be done to address congestion.
