IT was the grand opening, but that didn’t stop Kelso High School’s bus bay from being used as it was intended by students on Monday.
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Amid the formalities on Monday morning - and before the ribbon-cutting for the new piece of infrastructure - a bus pulled up and unloaded a number of students while Member for Bathurst Paul Toole was making a short speech and the television cameras were rolling.
Not that anyone was complaining – because, after all, that’s how the new bus bay is meant to be used.
Kelso High principal Mick Sloan said the replacement of the previous bus bay was long overdue.
“It’s made such a huge difference to the organisation and, obviously, to safety just in terms of students able to board buses,” he said.
“There is less congestion and things are much calmer. We’ve really noticed an instant impact.”
There is less congestion and things are much calmer. We've really noticed an instant impact.
- Kelso High principal Mick Sloan
Mr Sloan emphasised that the new bus bay had been a “team effort”.
The $150,000 funding came from the NSW Government, through Roads and Maritime Services, the design, planning and application for funding came from Bathurst Regional Council, the application was supported by schools and P and F groups throughout the city and the local bus companies were also supportive, he said.
Deputy mayor Graeme Hanger, a former teacher at Kelso High, joked that the old bus bay, which was built in the 1970s, had almost been around since buses were running on steam.
“Council is very happy to be involved with it [the project],” he said.
The new bus bay does not yet have a shelter, but Mr Sloan said that was next on the program and the school was in discussions with council.
“It’s certainly on the agenda to address that and hopefully we can rectify it in the next school holidays,” he said. “We can’t do anything during the school term.”
Kelso High first approached Bathurst Regional Council in 2011 asking it to address safety concerns at the bus interchange.
The school’s primary concern was the narrow concrete footpath and lack of a handrail along the kerb to separate students from parked and moving buses.
The work on the new bus bay was completed during the summer school holidays.