Goddard Rd at Wyuna has been blacklisted by the Victorian Department of Education and Walters Passenger Service, leaving parents of students who live on the road to ferry their children to either end of the pothole-infested dirt road for daily drop-off and pick-up.
Forty students from Kyabram P-12 College and St Augustine’s College have been affected by the decision, which is being laid squarely at the feet of a “slow-to-act” Campaspe Shire Council.
Paul Mennen, who was among four fathers who met with State Member for Murray Plains Peter Walsh on Goddard Rd late last week (a week after the bus route had been altered), said he understood the decision of the department and bus company, but did not understand how the situation had gotten to this point.
“People who live on Goddard Rd have been contacting the council (Campaspe Shire) for more than 12 months about the condition of the road and nothing has been done.
“It has just gotten worse since the recent rain,” he said, explaining such was the deterioration of the road that the the bus had fish-tailed along the road on the same day the door-to-door service stopped.
Mr Mennen said the road had not been graded in more than 12 months, despite the constant approaches from residents of Goddard Rd — who on one particular stretch of road had created an alternate route.
Such is the corrugated nature of Goddard Rd, which also has a series of potentially tyre-popping potholes, that between McNee Rd and McBain Rd a makeshift laneway has been created by traffic choosing to avoid the centre of the road.
And just around the corner, on Wilson Rd, there is an almost-traffic-stopping series of potholes which, after last week’s rain, are filled with water.
No buses travel along Wilson Rd, but now the north-south running Goddard Rd has also joined the list of roads not serviced by school buses.
Buses are stopping at the corner of Finlay and Goddard, along with the corner of the Murray Valley Hwy and Goddard, then using Trevaskis Rd instead of the traditional route in order to ferry the children to a collectable point for their parents.
The bus service stopped on the afternoon on Wednesday, June 7, when a driver reported the state of the road and a “close call” (when the bus almost left the road) to the operators of Walters Passenger Service.
Kate O’Neill, who co-ordinates the bus service for Kyabram P-12 College, said she had been contacted by Mrs Walters to inform her the bus had been “fish-tailing” on Goddard Rd and she was concerned about its safety.
“Sue (Walters) came and saw me and we changed it straight away,” Ms O’Neill said.
“I know that she has been in contact with the shire a number of times about Goddard Rd and after talking with her I also got in touch with the shire.
“They told me they were hoping to start work on the road this week and the road would be back in a useable state by week two of next term.”
In the meantime the parents of the students will need to alter their daily schedule in the mornings and afternoons to suit the new pick-up and drop-off points.
The last day of term two is Friday (June 23), which will provide the shire with a couple of weeks to go to work on the road.
Having driven the road last week they will need every day of that.
Ms O’Neill said she rang the parents of affected students, as had her counterpart at St Augustine’s College.
“We contacted parents by phone and sent out an email the next day. All up there were 40 students affected,” she said.
Campaspe Shire Council responded to the Free Press approach on Friday afternoon and said works would take three days and would be started this week.