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School bus services

School bus illustration School bus illustration

The Bayhopper network includes a number of routes that are available across the wider Tauranga region, and are only available for use by school students.

Key points

  • Dedicated school bus services are only available for use by school students
  • All school students travelling on Tauranga dedicated school buses (weekdays during term time only) can travel for free. 
  • Children/students can also travel for free on urban buses during peak times (before 9am and 2.30pm-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).
  • Travel on some dedicated school buses does not require a Bee Card (and remains free) - please check to see which services this applies to.
  • Dedicated school bus timetables on this website will not show in our Journey Planner function. View the full list of school bus timetables
  • Live tracking is currently not available on our school bus routes.
  • These school bus services are separate from those provided to some schools by the Ministry of Educationopen_in_new.

School bus timetables

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

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.

Does my school bus route require a Bee Card?

The routes highlighted below require students to use a registered Bee Card for their travel.

Route Schools serviced
701a Mount Maunganui College
711a Mount Maunganui College
712a Mount Maunganui College
712b Mount Maunganui Intermediate
714 Papamoa College
802b Tauranga Girls' College
802c Tauranga Boys' College 
803b Tauranga Intermediate and Tauranga Girls' College
901a Tauranga Girls' College and Maungatapu School
901b Tauranga Girls' College
902 Tauranga Boys' College and Maungatapu School
Route

Schools serviced

701

Aquinas College

702

Aquinas College

704a

Aquinas College

704b

Aquinas College and Tauriko School

710b

Mount Maunganui Intermediate

711b

Mount Maunganui Intermediate

713a

Mount Maunganui College

713b

Mount Maunganui Intermediate

720

Mount Maunganui College & Intermediate

801a

Tauranga Intermediate

801b

Tauranga Primary and St Mary's School

802a

Tauranga Intermediate

720

Mount Maunganui College and Intermediate

803a

Tauranga Boys' College and St Mary's

804a

Tauranga Intermediate

804b

Tauranga Intermediate

804c

Tauranga Intermediate

805

Tauranga Boys' College and Tauranga Girls' College

806a

Tauranga Boys' College

806b

Tauranga Girls' College

806c

Tauranga Intermediate and St Mary's School

807

Tauranga Intermediate, Boys', Girls' and St Mary's.

808a

Tauranga Intermediate, Boys', Girls' and Aquinas College

808b

Aquinas College

810a

Bethlehem College

810b

Bethlehem College

811

Bethlehem College

812

Bethlehem College

813

Bethlehem College

814a

Bethlehem College

814b

Bethlehem College & Tauriko School

815

Bethlehem College

816

Bethlehem College

903a

Tauranga Boys' College

903b

Tauranga Boys' College and Tauranga Girls' College

903c

Tauranga Girls' College

903d

Tauranga Intermediate and St Mary's School

903e

Tauranga Girls College, Tauranga Intermediate

904a

Otumoetai College and Otumoetai Intermediate

904b

Otumoetai College and Otumoetai Intermediate

905a

Otumoetai College, Otumoetai Intermediate and St Mary's School 

905b

Otumoetai College and Otumoetai Intermediate

906

Greerton Village School and Greenpark Primary School

907

Otumoetai College and Otumoetai Intermediate

920

Tauriko School

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.