Children’s safety everywhere matters and the CRA has flagged on-going safety issues at some of the school bus stops in our area that are key school pick-up and drop off zones.
This comprehensive article outlines some background information about bus stops and how they are determined by our local Council, key locations on Ballina Heights Drive for a planned formal bus stop, and how you can help support with keeping our children safe and supervised.
Formal vs Informal Bus stops:
Did you know that there are two kinds of bus stops – formal bus stops, generally with a shelter, as well as informal bus stops that are spread throughout the urban and rural areas of the shire particularly to service school bus runs.
There appears to be a lack of formal bus stops in Ballina Heights/Cumbalum, however, there are a large number of these informal bus stops that do not come with any signage, shelters or infrastructure and are often temporary and relocatable, providing flexibility in response to changing customer demand. The location of these informal bus stops is determined by the bus services working together with parents and carers. These are further guided by the Center for Road Safety's guidelines called “Advice for Choosing Locations for Informal Bus Stops”. These guidlines consider details such as sight lines, shoulder widths, waiting areas, pedestrian routes, weather issues and parking across different speed zones.
Bus Service providers may approach Council and request new bus shelters at certain locations. Needs are then reviewed annually in discussion with Blanches/CDC and Bus lines based on customer demand and changes to route services. Funding for new shelters is sought from the State Government through the Country Passenger Transport Infrastructure Grants Scheme (CPTIGS) in approximately August/September each year, with grant funds becoming available around May the following year. If successful, Council proceeds with assessment, design, procurement and construction processes. Grants awarded through CPTIGS must be expended within two years.
Monitoring Safety at the bus stops:
The Ballina Shire Council has a Safety officer who monitors flagged areas of concern. In 2024 the existing informal bus stops on Ballina Heights Drive were monitored to promote safety amongst students waiting for bus services. What was noted was that approximately 15-20 school children wait at the informal bus stop serviced by Blanchs/CDC in the mornings. There were a number of primary school children using the stop - some were supervised by parents/carers and others were not supervised. The Safety officer was required to give safety instructions, particularly to the unattended primary school children, regarding staying back from the kerb.
General safety advice is that children 10 years and younger should be supervised by parents/carers in and around the road environment.
This bus safety message is also promoted on Council’s social media channels, and is ongoing with new safety posts at the beginning of each new school term. Safety discussions and options are also discussed with bus drivers and the service manager at Blanchs/CDC.
A possible compounded issue here is the lack of a formal bus shelter at this key point along Ballina Heights Drive, close to the planned shopping centre that residents have long been waiting for. Plans to include a bus zone/shelter and a pedestrian refuge on Ballina Heights drive were included as draft conditions of consent for the DA 2023/270 (Ballina Heights Estate Shopping Centre). However the actual provision of this official bus shelter lies in the hands of the developer and not with Council. Thus it ties in with the development of the shopping centre and currently there is no time frame placed on this particular and relatively urgent requirement by the community.
Below is a diagram from the Ballina Shire Council Local Traffic Committee Minutes from June 2024 that shows the location of the proposed bus stop shelter to be built by the developers.
Clearly action needs to be taken on two fronts:
Parents, carers or older siblings and other members of our community taking a more active role in supporting with the drop offs and pick-ups to ensure all children are supervised and are safe.
AND
The developers, with duty of care, not delaying the development of the shopping centre and associated bus stop.
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