While a bus takes them from town to school in the morning, the return trip drops them at the corner of Sawmill Road and the Midland Hwy at Springmount, almost 4km from town.

No footpaths and traffic speeding past at 100kmh means it is too dangerous and too far for students to make their own way home, forcing parents to queue in their cars along the side of the busy road to pick their children up.

Emma Muller, whose son Owen is in year seven at Daylesford Secondary College, said the students were "dumped in the middle of nowhere".

"My concern is that they drop kids off, kids as young as 12, on Sawmill Road where there's traffic flying past at 100kmh," she said. "There are houses there, but no shops or anything they can go to in an emergency.

"What if a parent has a car accident, or is late from work, or there's no one to pick them up ... they are just dumped in the middle of nowhere."

She and her husband both work full time, so a friend picks Owen up as it's too dangerous for him to get home on his own.

Concerned parents spoke to The Courier about the Springmount drop-off as far back as 2014 but nothing has changed.

So Ms Muller has taken on the fight, making phone calls and sending emails to the bus company, Public Transport Victoria, local politicians, council and other agencies but has so far been given the runaround and no answers.

"Each weekday morning Little's Coaches has a PTV service to Creswick that does not have a return service. The bus then becomes a school run from Sawmill Rd, Springmount, to Daylesford Secondary College," Little's Coaches wrote in a letter to parents at the start of the year.

"Because there is a delay between finish of PTV and school run the driver waits in Creswick to supply a service to students who come to Daylesford for their schooling. This however is not part of any school run and is classified as public transport.

"Because this part of the run is not funded by education department or PTV we need to charge a fare to help cover our costs for this service. This means anyone who does not pay is not able to avail of this service and would have to find their own way to Springmount bus stop for start of school bus run.

IN OTHER NEWS

"During the afternoon school run the stop at Springmount at the corner of Midland Highway and Sawmill Road is first or second stop. It then continues through rest of route thus we are unable to go in to Creswick."

Ms Muller said diverting in to the edge of Creswick and back to the current route would only add a few minutes overall to the bus run but improve the safety of the students.

The only public bus service to Creswick from Daylesford after school leaves at 4.45pm.

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