The Bus Society was formed in September 1992 to provide transport for the Rangiwaea school students, with a bus provided by the ministry.
Over the years until recently the bus society flourished with funding from the ministry which covered the running costs, drivers to be paid and accumulate surplus funds.
This enabled the bus society to purchase their first bus in 1996 and a second in 2002 due to the increasing roll of the school. The increase made up mainly of children from Waiouru. Now the larger 20 seater, Ford Transit bus is based in Waiouru and the smaller 10 seater Toyota Hiace van is based locally.
Because of the declining number of local children at the school we no longer had sufficient numbers to be eligible for funding from the ministry, so are now totally reliant on donations/fees to cover most of basic running costs, but ongoing fundraising by dedicated parents is essential to meet the short fall in costs and to help keep the fees as low as possible.
Up until 2005 the bus drivers were getting paid, but because of the funding situation it became no longer possible to do this and all the drivers now work on a purely voluntary basis.
The buses from time to time are used to take the children on class/school outings, sporting events etc. and school camps. The buses are also available to hire for private use outside of school hours, paid on a per kilometre basis.
