Rural School Bus Safety Program

The Rural School Bus Safety Program is delivering safer, more comfortable and more convenient bus interchanges for primary and secondary school students in regional Victoria.

Information on this page

• Overview
• Stage 2 details
• Stage 1 achievements

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Overview

The Rural School Bus Safety Program consists of works to improve safety of transport facilities at primary and secondary schools and roadside school bus stops in regional Victoria. The 2006 transport statement, Meeting Our Transport Challenges, included a further $18.6 million for the program that first started in 1999.

The program aims to:

• separate bus and non-bus traffic (parents' and teachers' cars, pedestrians and non-bus users)
• remove the need for buses to reverse at school stops
• provide safety fencing between student marshalling areas and roadways
• improve student amenity by providing bus shelters.

Improvements at school bus interchanges include:

• road works
• building bus bays
• improving shelters and other waiting areas
• safety fencing.

Works at roadside bus stops include:

• providing gravelled standing areas for buses
• widening road shoulders to allow buses to stand clear of other traffic
• improving visibility by removing shrubs and foliage
• providing shelters, where appropriate.

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Stage 2 details

Stage 2 of the Rural School Bus Safety Program will involve upgrading about 60 school bus interchanges and safety improvements at a further 1,000 roadside school bus stops. Funding over four years for the project was allocated in the 2006-07 State Budget.

2006-07 projects
Works to improve safety at 15 school bus interchanges at an approximate cost of $1.5 million started in 2006-07. A further $600,000 will be used for improving safety at about 150 roadside school bus stops.

Projects announced to date:

Belmont High School construct new bus bays and provide shelters Completed December 2006

Dimboola Secondary College lower the shelter and install safety fencing

Donald Secondary College new safety barriers; improved shelters and seating Stage 1 Completed February 2007

Dromana Secondary College new bus interchange loop; new safety fencing; wider paths; new bus shelters Completed March 2007

Emerald Secondary College new bus loop; new safety barrier fencing and new bus shelters

Heywood Secondary College improvements to a new bus interchange; new shelters and paving Completed July 2008

Kaniva College providing safety fencing; footpaths; shelter; signage, roadworks and line marking

Lavalla Catholic College, Bendigo new bus interchange; elimination of bus reversing movements; paving works Completed January 2007

Loreto College, Ballarat new shelters; safety barrier fencing; line marking; signage; Disability Discrimination Act compliance Completed January 2007

Maryborough Education Centre new safety barrier fencing

Monivae College, Hamilton bus interchange improvements, safety barrier fences and shelters

Mooroopna Secondary College New bus interchange including shelters and safety barrier fencing Completed March 2007

Nungurner Primary School Construct and seal a bus bay and relocate the shelter

Portland Secondary College resurface the student waiting and boarding area and improve pathways Completed December 2007

Rutherglen Secondary College A new bus interchange including road works, barrier fencing and shelters Completed January 2007

St Johns Lutheran Primary School, Portland construction of a new covered walkway Completed December 2007

Stratford Primary School relocate current bus area from roadway on the school grounds

Tallangatta Secondary College New bus interchange to separate buses from cars, bikes and pedestrians Completed October 2007

Trinity College, Colac improvements to the bus interchange including safety barrier fencing and shelters

Wodonga West Primary School An indented bus bay

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Stage 1 achievements

Stage 1 of the Rural School Bus Safety Program involved a $10 million investment. A total of 123 bus interchanges and more than 600 roadside school bus stops were upgraded over a five-year period from 1999 to 2004. Works included building bus shelters and covered walkways, road improvements to increase bus safety and, in some cases, new bus interchanges were built.

Specific works included:

• shelter against sun, heat and wet weather
• signage, lighting and line-marking
• safety barrier fencing to separate pedestrians from cars and buses
• quality design of facilities so that buses no longer need to reverse
• compliance with Disability Discrimination Act requirements to make interchanges accessible to students with a disability
• provision for future growth of the schools.

A full list of the Rural School Bus Safety projects 1999-2004 is available.