School bus driver, Terry Clyde is set to retire in a couple of weeks after having done the Wilcannia Road rural bus run for 22 and a half years.
And sadly when Terry goes, so too does the bus run with Terry advising that the Transport NSW contract is not to be renewed.
When Terry took over the run from Ian Settree more than 20 years ago, he had 14 kids travelling on the bus to school each day.
“That was before seatbelts and they used to sit three over two seats,” Terry said.
Amazingly in his 22 and half years Terry has never had a flat tyre. He has however hit a few kangaroos and one morning on his way out to collect the kids, the motor blew up.
“The kids didn’t go to school that day,” Terry said.
He said if parents lost track of time or had a problem and were unable to meet the bus at the allotted drop off time, he would run the kids into the homestead.
“I never left a kid on the side of the road.”
The bus run has now dwindled to just six kids, with the Culls one of those affected families. Their property is 83km from Cobar and currently they drive their two primary school aged children 30km on an unsurfaced road to meet the bus each morning, and they continue 53km with Terry to Cobar Public School.
A few years ago the Culls purchased a house in town to help cut down travel, especially during the wet winter months.
State Member for Barwon Roy Butler said over the past 18 months he has been approached by numerous families across his electorate seeking to have their school bus runs extended.
“The extension of these existing routes would drastically lessen the strain placed on these families,” Mr Butler said.
“Some families who have reached out to me are having to drive their children up to 40km to the bus stop and this places an enormous amount of both mental and financial pressure on these often young families.”
Mr Butler has made representations to Minister for Regional Transport Paul Toole on behalf of these families and said he was pleased to see a 2020-21 Budget allocation of $1.6million towards NSW bus services.
“I will be making further representations to Minister Toole on behalf of families across Barwon seeking an appropriate allocation of funds for our electorate,” Mr Bulter said.
“It is integral to building our communities for families with children to be able to readily access a school bus services, this entices new families to rural areas along with encouraging the next generation to return to Barwon.”
Terry and wife Bev’s retirement plans include travelling to visit their daughters in Queensland and WA, “but not any bus trips”.
Wilcannia Road rural school bus run for the past 22 and a half years.