Under the previous system, bus operators were paid from the time they collected the first department approved passenger - which could be a student or escort until they dropped off the last passenger. This allowed for longer runs to be paid exorbitant amounts, while unescorted runs only got paid from the first student to the last student.
Under the new system, bus operators are paid a 15% bonus for having an escort, with the pay being determined from the first student picked up to the last student dropped off. They are no longer paid for the time an escort is on the bus.
One operator told Carenne Gate they considered the changes unfair.
"We have a 300 kilometre a day run, that we used to be paid the whole amount for. Now we are paid for 175 kilometres a day, with each kilometre paid far less than before," said the operator.
"If it keeps going, we will just stop our bus runs and find something else to do. It's no longer viable."
A source in the Assisted School Travel Unit told Carenne Gate that she believed the tender process and the new rates were bought in to stop rorting. "You can not believe how complicated the old system was, and how easily you could rort it," said the whistleblower.
"The new system was supposed to simplify how everything worked and stop the rorts."
Another departmental official told Carenne Gate that the new system was bought in as a recommendation of the Independent Commission Against Corruption.
"The ICAC received a number of complaints involving the former special student transport and looked into how it was ran. They found it was poorly ran and was open to corruption and favourtism,"
"You would have rouge operators such as one in this area which would put down more kilometres than they were traveling and who were getting in some cases double what some of the others were getting,"
"The ICAC said it was befit with massive issues," said the official.
Once again, the NSW Department of Education and Communities has failed a key program for disabled students in the state.
