Dubai: The electronic tracking system will be mandatory for all school buses with effect from April 1, the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced on Monday.
The announcement comes as part of a bundle of changes RTA is bringing to the school transport sector, including increasing the capacity of school buses as well as stopping minivans on school runs.
Adel Shakeri, director of Planning and Business Development at RTA’s Public Transport Agency, said that a GPS device will be mandatory on all school buses from next month.
“Starting from April 1, an electronic tracking system using GPS spatial technology will be mandatory,” he said.
He added that school managements or school transport providers would be allowed to modify the seating of large school buses (more than 50 seats) by fitting them with 2+3 seats provided they are equipped with two fire extinguishers and two first aid kits as well as having two attendants.
The modified seating arrangements of 3+2 will help school buses carry up to 60 students unlike the current seating in some buses which is 2+2 and can carry up to 40 students.
“The increased carrying capacity is indeed beneficial for the transport providers and will mean fewer vehicles on the road,” he added.
In October 2014, RTA had banned use of minibuses in schools, giving transport operators a grace period of 18 months to implement the ban. The ban came into effect from early this month.
Until recently, around 30 per cent of vehicles used for school transportation in Dubai were minibuses and vans, which traffic experts deemed unsafe for transporting students.
According to Shakeri, all minibuses that were on the school run are already off the road.
“Due to safety and security implications, March 1 had been set as a deadline for abolishing the use of minibuses in school transport services. The operators were granted an 18-month grace period to phase out these vehicles from school transport fleets,” Shakeri said.
School transport operators have welcomed RTA’s move to increase the capacity of buses as well as other changes.
“We are very happy with the decision. RTA has helped create a niche for school transport in the UAE. Bringing in safety specifications has helped improve the sector immensely. We can now compare Dubai’s school transportation system with the best in the world,” said Colonel Augustine, managing director of School Transport Services, a major school transport operator in the country.
He added that RTA is constantly striving to improve the safety features of school buses.
“Making GPS mandatory is a welcome move and great step forward. Though it was optional until now, but we have had it on our buses for long,” he said.
Kamran Ahmad, general manager, Fancy Transport, also welcomed changes to seating arrangements.
“Before 2008, there used to be buses with 2+3 seating arrangement, then RTA stopped it, but we are happy that they are increasing the seating capacity again. This will definitely help us improve operations and will also mean fewer buses on roads,” said Ahmad.
RTA regulates school transport in Dubai following a Dubai Executive Council regulation No 2 of 2008, which was updated through an Executive Council’s Resolution No (18) of 2014 issued by Shaikh Hamdan Bin Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and chairman of Dubai Executive Council.
It also issues safety and technical specifications for buses carrying schoolchildren, which includes speed limitation to 80km/h, mandatory first aid kit, female attendants, mandatory first aid training for drivers and attendants as well as stop arms.
More than 150,000 students travel in around 5,000 school buses in Dubai daily.
Since 2011, the number of pupils using school buses has increased by 14 per cent, and the fatality rate has remained zero over the same period.
