FREE travel to school is facing the axe as the Rees Government prepares the NSW public for a horror mini-budget.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Last night Treasurer Eric Roozendaal refused to shut down speculation that huge changes were about to be made to the scheme that has operated since 1968.
NSW is more generous than Victoria or Queensland in providing transport concessions for the aged and school students.
For example, free school travel in NSW, which costs the taxpayer $500 million a year, covers 60 per cent of the state's public and private school students, compared with 22 per cent in Victoria and 23 per cent in Queensland.
Education Minister Verity Firth said a new travel scheme, if adopted, would need to address hardship issues and provide safeguards for struggling families.
A spokesman for Mr Roozendaal said the exact details of the scheme's review were mere speculation. It is understood meetings will be held with core interest groups, such as the Bus and Coach Association of NSW and the various school parent groups.
The scheme has been unpopular with cash-conscious state governments for several years.
In 2003 the Carr government bowed to a public outcry and abandoned recommendations to charge parents $30 a year for "free" school passes in the wake of a bus review by former premier Barrie Unsworth.