Ms Calladine, who relies on the Sebastopol 24 bus to get her children to Urquhart Park Primary School, said the new bus times were impractical for anyone who needed to be somewhere by 9am.

Under the new timetable she has to wake her three children before 6.30am for the 7.43am bus and wait with them for an hour before school, or they get to school 10 minutes late by the next bus an hour later, she said.

New bus routes and timetables were rolled out in Ballarat at the end of January this year, with the promise of 15 more direct routes to replace the existing 19. 

“Because my son has ADHD and mild autism it creates a lot of challenges because it messes up his routine.

“If I keep him at his regular schedule I have to get him to the 8.30 bus and then he’s 10 to 15 minutes late.

“It (also) means I have to work around for doctors appointments and my son’s psychologist appointments.”

A bus shortly after eight would mean Ms Calladine would spend only an hour busing her kids to school and back each day, she said.

Belinda Harty, whose six-year-old daughter also attends Urquhart Park, said the new route was “perfect” but the timetable needed to change.

Before they would take two buses to get to school.

Ms Harty had hoped the new route would mean she could fit a job in the hours in between.

“A lot of parents who drive their kids to school, they don’t realise how much I go through, taking eight buses a day.

“I couldn’t find a job that would fit in with those times, I was hoping with the new system, only having to catch one bus, it would be a lot easier for me.”

She and Ms Calladine also wait for 45 minutes after school on Latrobe Street for the 4pm bus home. 

“It’s really hard to try and have kids sitting there for 45 minutes when there’s no shelter so coming into winter we’re going to be sitting at the bus stop with no shelter at all.

“It’s not only affecting children going to school.

“Another lady I was talking to on the bus also said it affected her going to work so she has to get the 7.43am bus and wait in Ballarat City for an hour just so she makes sure she’s at work on time.”

A Public Transport Victoria transport spokesperson said the new network and bus stops would be reviewed after the first 12 months in operation. 

 "The bus timetable is designed to connect with train services at Ballarat Station in the morning towards Melbourne and in the afternoon towards Ballarat,” the spokesperson said.