School bus leaves teen girl stranded
“SHE isn’t here, bad luck.”
These are the words a bus driver allegedly told the friend of a 14-year-old Gold Coast girl who was just metres away from catching her school bus.
The daughter of Caira Holland had been let out early from her Palm Beach Currumbin High School class last Tuesday when her friend texted saying that the bus was early and she needed to come now.
The TransLink Surfside bus, route 760 north bound, is supposed to depart from the school at 3.09pm, but allegedly left four minutes early at 3.05pm.
“She went running flat strap to the bus stop, if he had waited just five seconds more she would have been on the bus,” Ms Holland said.
“It’s a major problem. How many other kids has he left behind?”
She claims the bus driver saw her daughter approaching, but told her friend who was pointing at her “she isn’t here, bad luck” and closed the doors.
Ms Holland said not only was it a safety issue, but the students often had connecting buses or trains they needed to catch.
According to her phone records, Ms Holland’s daughter called at 3.07pm, saying she had missed the bus. Ms Holland later picked up her daughter.
“On their first day back at school the bus was 20 minutes late and was 45 minutes late by the time it got to Robina Town Centre,” Ms Holland said.
“Every day, the bus is running more than 10 to 15 minutes late or is five minutes early and does not wait for students to get out of school before departing earlier than scheduled.”
Ms Holland said she had lodged a complaint with TransLink and made the school aware of the problem.
She said her daughter, along with some other students had asked for the school to implement their own school bus.
However, a spokesman for the Department of Education said “the school does not have the ability to run any additional services”.
A spokesman for TransLink told the Bulletin they had been made aware of the incident and have “contacted operator Surfside to investigate the matter”.