Abu Dhabi: A total of 1,488 school buses that will serve 119 public schools and 21 private schools in the emirate of Abu Dhabi have been checked and maintained by provider Emirates Transport.
A smart system is also being tried out in all buses transporting kindergarten children, said Aamer Al Shahi, director of Abu Dhabi government school transportation. It consists of an electronic count system, which ensures that all pupils who board the bus get off at the destination, and when there is a discrepancy in the numbers, an alert is sounded to the control room. Drivers will also have to confirm that all pupils have disembarked by pressing three buttons, which are distributed in the front, middle and rear portion of the bus. A motion detection system is also installed so that an alert will be sounded in cases there is any movement after the engine has been turned off.
The vehicles are expected to transport more than 56,000 pupils when schools reopen for the 2016-2017 academic year in September, the government-owned transport provider said in a statement sent on Wednesday. In addition to the fleet, 1,440 drivers and 1,712 supervisors are ready to help transport children to and from school.
