Angry parents

Displeasure about long waiting times for the bus

According to a federal decree, children are legally allowed to wait one hour for the bus. This is causing a stir among parents in Großpetersdorf.(Bild: Schulter Christian)

Parents criticize the discontinuation of the school bus service in Großpetersdorf. Public buses are no alternative.

Many pupils take the bus to school in the morning and back home again later. As every year, this school year also brings new bus timetables. This is also the case in Großpetersdorf, where parents are very displeased. The reason for this is the discontinuation of the occasional school bus service, which in Austria is financed by the tax office and operated by private bus companies.

Scheduled services cannot react flexibly
Since the start of this year's school year, children who want to go to Jabing, Rotenturm or Oberwart have had to rely on regular bus services operated by Verkehrsbetriebe Burgenland (VBB). Due to the axle system, these are tied to arrival and departure times and cannot operate flexibly. In the case of Großpetersdorf, the buses run every hour from 12.47 to 15.47 every day.

37 minutes waiting time too long for parents
An unacceptable situation for the angry parents. Because if the secondary school pupils get off at 2.10 pm or 3.05 pm, they have to wait either 37 minutes or 42 minutes for the next bus, which is too long. Mind you: unsupervised. "The children lose valuable free time as a result. In addition, we are always told that we should save CO², but where are we saving if we always have to pick up our children?" says one concerned mother.

BAST not an alternative solution
Parents are also very displeased with the VBB, because the BAST is also out of the question as an alternative solution. Pupils can only travel on it from 4.30 pm. VBB Managing Director Wolfgang Werderits refers to a federal decree which states that a waiting time of up to one hour is reasonable for children and passes the ball on to the local authorities. "It may be possible to turn a few screws here in terms of lesson times or the duty of supervision," says Werderits, adding that this is also possible in other municipalities.