Cerebral palsy sufferer Mecenzi Howard was left stranded by the State Government this week after an administrative bungle left her without transport to and from school on her first day.The Horsley 14-year-old was one of hundreds of disabled students whose bus to and from school did not run on the first days of school, leaving parents to make other arrangements.Bus operators said yesterday the NSW Education Department was slow to approve bus routes, leaving the Howard family scrambling for alternative transport.Toni Howard said she was forced to ask her other daughter, a Year 12 student, to take time off school to pick up Mecenzi."I don't think the powers that be know what this means for these kids - a first day is stressful enough," she said."As a parent I work so hard to be independent and you don't want to have to rely on other people like this."The problem arose because of a dispute over rates of payment to private bus operators by the NSW Government for the service.Under pressure, the Government yesterday agreed to increase the amount it was prepared to pay operators and get them back on the road.Noeleen Wadley, who operates Mecenzi's bus service, said the State Government was slow in approving her bus route."We were told the bus runs were going to be handed out by December ... that did not happen," she said."All I could do was keep checking my emails and ringing the department."The debacle has led to multiple apologies, first from Premier Barry O'Farrell and later Education Minister Adrian Piccoli.Yesterday Mr Piccoli said the Government was working its hardest to get the buses on the road."The NSW Government has listened to the [bus] providers on this, which is why I authorised the department's Director-General to offer the higher rate immediately," he said.Wollongong Labor MP Noreen Hay said the transport bungle was a "shocking failure by the Government and a grave dereliction of duty"."We have received reports of children with cerebral palsy told to catch a taxi - a child in an electric wheelchair told to push himself to school," she said.