Welcome to the Public Transport Guide for parents and guardians, designed to help you to prepare your child for travelling to and from school on our public transport network in South East Queensland.
We know that family life is very busy, so we have brought together an easy guide, split into four key topics below.
Our network consists of four modes of public transport:
- bus
- train
- ferry
- tram.
For most students, bus and train will be the most common mode when travelling to school.
We have two planning tools to help you find the most suitable public transport mode and school route for your child:
- School service finder to find school routes within 1km of your child's school
- Journey planner for a more customised search
For schools or routes not listed in our journey planner, contact your service delivery partner for more information.
Translink app
Download the Translink app to quickly access timetable info, plan your child’s journey and keep up to date with disruption information.
Download the app for free from Google Play or the App Store.
Journey planner
When using journey planner, make sure you select a date that falls on a school day and choose between 'Depart' or 'Arrive before' to tailor your search.
You can contact your local school bus delivery partner for more information about the school service and student assistance options.
Example: Matthew attends a state high school within the South East Queensland region and lives 6km from his school. His parents download the Translink app to find the local bus service and the school service timetable.
A number of ticket options are available for primary and secondary school students, including the School Transport Assistance Scheme and go cards.
The School Transport Assistance Scheme is available for those experiencing hardship, living a certain distance from school and those with a disability.
Travelling with a go card is an easy way to travel on our services and take advantage of our 50 cent flat fares, regardless of the distance travelled.
Children between the ages of five and 15 should use an orange child go card, which also gives them access to the “Children travel free on weekends” scheme.
To find the best travel product for your child, visit student ticketing options.
You can buy a go card online, at selected retailers, or over the phone.
Example 1: Matthew is 12 years old and lives within 1km of his high school. His parents purchase the orange child go card and set-up auto top-up.
Example 2: Cathy lives more than 4.8km from her nearest state high school, and may qualify for assistance under STAS. Cathy's parents submit a STAS application to determine the level of assistance available for her.
It is the responsibility of all parents and carers to ensure enough travel credit is on their child's go card.
The easiest way to ensure your child always has travel credit is to set-up auto top-up online.
Auto top-up is:
Safe
- Ensures travel credit every time.
- Contactless card transactions.
- No need for you child to carry travel money.
- Encourages safe and responsible travel.
Easy
- Only takes five minutes to set-up on the go card website.
- No more queuing or last minute dashes to manually top-up your child's go card.
- $5 auto trigger balance.
- Minimum top up is $20.
Secure
- Triggered by usage and won't expire with time.
- Opt-in to receive top-up text messages.
- Credit can be accessed and transferred to a new card if it is lost or stolen.
Join more than 200,000 Queenslanders who already have auto top-up. Simply:
- Log into your child's go card account (you will need to register the card first if you haven't already, please call 13 12 30 to register your child's go card).
- Click on the top up tab and set your preferred auto top-up amount ($20 minimum and $5 is the balance trigger).
You can also call 13 12 30 and set-up auto top-up over the phone.
Parents and care givers
As parents and care givers, you play a key role in your children's safety when they travel on public transport.
There are some simple things you as parents and carers can do to ensure the safety of your child:
- Ensure your child has a valid ticket for travel
- Set-up auto top-up on their go card if using one
- Accompany your child on a practice journey before school starts so they’re familiar with their surroundings and know how to tap on/off
- Read our school travel tips for parents and code of conduct and have a discussion with your child about their responsibilities when using public transport
Children
There are a few things that children can do to play a key role in their own safety when travelling:
- walk quietly, one-by-one, on and off public transport
- pay their fare by tapping on and off, or showing their travel pass
- keeping their belongings stored in their bag
- sit quietly on public transport and speak politely to other passengers and transport staff
These simple steps are outlined in our Code of Conduct for School Students Travelling on Buses (PDF, 6.5MB).
All students travelling on public transport have a responsibility to ensure their safety, including paying their fare. There are potential consequences for not complying, such as refusal of travel.
Public transport officers
There are five types of transport officers who work across Translink's four public transport modes - bus, train, tram, ferry - who help keep students safe. Each type of officer has varying levels of power under the Transport Operations (Passenger Transport) Act 1994 and Transport Infrastructure Act 1994.
- Bus drivers, train guards, station staff and ferry deck hands (bus, train, ferry)
- Queensland Police Service Rail Squad (train)
- Translink Senior Network Officers (bus, ferry, train, tram)
- Authorised Officers (train)
- Customer Service Officers (trams)
Parents and carers to:
- Read school travel tips for parents and code of conduct.
- Have a discussion with your child about their responsibilities when travelling on public transport.