School bus services

School bus timetables

Each school bus timetable can be accessed through our timetable pageopen_in_new.

School bus fares

All school buses are free, however some students will need to tag on and off with their Bee Card on their bus, depending on the service they’re using.

You can find out which services require a Bee Card and which don't below.

Urban network student fares

Students may also use our other urban network buses to travel to school, which are open to the general public.

Bee Card

Children/students can travel for free on urban buses during peak times (before 9am, and between 2.30pm and 6pm) with a registered Bee Card.

This applies on weekdays during school terms for:

• Rotorua Cityride buses,
• Tauranga Bayhopper buses (excluding routes 80 and 81), and
• Whakatane Bayhopper route 122.

To be eligible, they must tag on and off with their registered Bee Card  (with child concession preloaded).

Handy tip: we know that occasionally students do forget to tag off – this can put the Bee Card into a negative balance and the student will be unable to board again until the card is topped up. It’s a good idea to keep $5 or so loaded onto the card at all times and check from time to time that this balance is still there.

Cash fares

Cash fares are still accepted. Students should either be in school uniform or have their student ID ready to show the driver so their concession (discounted fare) can be applied on boarding.

Using the school bus services

The school bus services are only available for use by school students.

Catching the bus

Students should wait at the named bus stop around 5 minutes before the time shown on the bus timetable and signal the driver when they see the bus coming, staying well clear of the road.

While we have made every effort for our timetables to accurately show the times they will be at each stop, the buses may reach the stops earlier or later depending on traffic, the numbers of passengers getting on the bus, or due to delays because of things like roadworks. We recommend getting to stops earlier than the timetable suggests.

At this time, our school buses do not have live tracking available. 

Behaviour on the bus

We expect all passengers to follow our code of conduct. 

If bad behaviour is seen or experienced, we will take action. 

If the bad behaviour is serious (is a major distraction to the driver or puts other passengers at risk), the student may be stood down from the bus for a period. For less serious behaviours, a student may receive a warning or be asked to sign a behaviour contract.

Keeping our passengers safe between your front door and the school gate

The journey children take to get to school is a shared responsibility between parents, the bus company, the school, Regional Council, and the child.

The bus company is responsible for providing a safe bus and a qualified bus driver. Schools will follow up on reports of disruptive behaviour or vandalism.

Parents need to make sure that their child is capable of travelling on a school bus, including knowing how to tag on and off with their Bee Card, and managing transfers between buses without assistance.

Other school bus routes and services

The information on this website only covers Bayhopper school bus routes, which are managed by Bay of Plenty Regional Council. 

As well as the Bayhopper School Bus routes, some rural routes continue to be Ministry of Education funded, and other routes are funded by schools and users. 

For Ministry of Education rural routes and SESTA routes, please have a look at the information on the Tauranga Transport Network Group EasyBus websiteopen_in_new or contact your school.

Lost property

For any items left on the bus, please contact the bus operator directly. You can find the information on our Lost Property page. 

School bus passenger numbers

By law a Loading Certificate must be displayed on the front windscreen of the bus, which details the number of primary and secondary students it can carry.

Bus companies can receive a fine for exceeding their loading limit, so although a bus may look overcrowded, it is rare for this to be the case.

If you are concerned about the loading on a particular bus, please note the registration number and use the contact form on this website to let us know.

Have feedback about our school bus service?

To make a complaint, give a compliment or provide feedback about the Bayhopper School service you can call or contact us here.

If you would like to suggest a change to a stop or route, please let us know by calling us on 0800 4 BAY BUS or emailing school.transport@boprc.govt.nz and we will look into the suggestion.

You can also use the online feedback form.