Dubai: The number of students using school transport services has more than doubled from around 3,000 in the second academic term of this year to over 7,000 in the third term, announced transport authorities.
The Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC) and the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said the number of students served by the School Transport Service has increased by 133 per cent, while the number of school buses deployed to run the service has grown from 130 to 272.
“These statistics are indicative of an upsurge in confidence reposed by students and their parents in the school transport system,” said Mohammad Saeed Al Dhuhoori, director of School Transport at DTC.
The DTC aims to work on further improving the services by placing a cap on bus speed to 80km/h, deploying a supervisor in each bus, and fitting the buses with external surveillance cameras offering a panoramic view for the driver. The DTC will also fit the buses with a voice system when reversing to alert passers-by.
“The new DTC buses have CCTV cameras connected to the control centre of the DTC to refer to when needed. These cameras track the entire movement of the student from the moment of boarding and seating until alighting from the bus,” said Al Dhuhoori.
He also pointed out the DTC centre has a GPS bus-tracking system that sends text messages to parents showing the time their children got on and off the school bus at schools and when dropped home.
“According to opinion polls and questionnaires conducted by the agency to screen the satisfaction rating of students and their parents about the level of safety in school buses, 87 per cent of students expressed [having a] feeling of security and comfort with the service in 2016,” added Al Dhuhoori.
