40PC SCHOOL BUSES IN BAHRAIN SANS PERMITS

Schools opt unsafe and illegal bus transports as they are cheaper

Anwar Moideen/DTNN 

news@dt.bh 

Manama 

A number of expatriate students travel daily by school buses and vans in the Kingdom, but nearly 40 per cent of these vehicles are illegal and without permits. 

A parallel line of private and illegal school transportation is doing brisk business, as traffic police and the transport authority remain silent on the issue. 

Legitimate school-bus operators in the Kingdom are up in arms over a number of illegal operators carrying expatriate students from schools. 

According to the operators, the transport authority keeps turning a blind eye towards the school bus system and has failed to clamp down on illegal bus operators. 

A veteran school bus operator in Bahrain, Shaikh Abdullah, alleged illegal operators are threatening the survival of registered school-bus operators. The indifference showed by the Transport Authority is adding to their woes. 

“There are over 30 illegal buses running for one school alone. In fact, there are far more illegal buses than legal ones,” he noted. 

Abdullah revealed, the Transport Authority requires each operator to obtain license for running school buses and also approvals from various government departments for parking of these buses. 

“We have provided everything, invested in our fleet, fixed a price with the concerned schools and made our statutory payments, and still we are on the suffering end,” he lamented. 

He alleged most of the schools, where Asian students study, opt illegal transportation as it is available at a much cheaper rate,” Abdullah said. 

He said the children travelling in such vehicles are left to the peril of the flawed system, as they are not safe. 

“The vehicle owners do not pay any heed to the safety guidelines leaving children at their mercy. Most of these vehicles overcrowd students and do not even have air conditioning. With the rising temperature, this could cause health hazards, ” he told DT News. 

He said schools and parents should not allow such vans to be used for school transportation. 

Sources pointed out, some schools have about 40 vehicles parked outside their campuses. Most of them ply illegally and also cause traffic snarls. 

Apart from schools, many companies, especially the retail malls hire illegal operators to transport their employees. There are reportedly over 25 illegal buses, operating for retail malls. 

“My kids would be drenched with sweat when they reach home. They keep complaining of the bus’s air-conditioning not working,” said a parent Shaija Thomas. 

Manama MP Ahmed Abdul Wahid Qarata admitted enough attention had not been paid to illegal school-bus operators in the past. He said he would soon commence a drive against vehicles illegally ferrying expatriate schoolchildren in Bahrain. 

“We have received complaints against such operators and we plan to cancel the registration of such vehicles. We will start a drive and take penal action against those who violate the policy and ply illegally,” Qarata confirmed.