Rural School Bus Programme gets high marks

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz says parent and student satisfaction with the Rural School Bus Programme, which was implemented last year, currently stands at 100 per cent, significantly surpassing the original performance target of 85 per cent.

He noted, too, that school attendance among participating communities have improved by 95 per cent, while public support continues to grow.

“This initiative has become a model of effective public policy, improving educational access, reducing transportation costs for families and strengthening rural communities and ensuring that every child has a safe, reliable, dignified journey to school,” he said. Vaz was highlighting the programme’s impact during yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House.

Vaz pointed out that since its launch last September, the programme has addressed long-standing challenges of affordability, accessibility, and student safety. He said the programme’s first-year performance demonstrates exceptional success with approximately 349 schools benefiting, 86 dedicated bus routes, approximately 90 buses dispatched daily, more than 16,000 trips facilitated every day and approximately 8,000 students transported safely to and from school.

“Operational performance has also been outstanding. Each month, the fleet travels more than 228,000 kilometres, consuming approximately 77,700 litres of fuel, while maintaining scheduled maintenance compliance, 100 per cent GPS monitoring compliance, 100 per cent driver training compliance and approximately 90 trained professional drivers operating daily,” he said.

He pointed out, as well, that since the programme’s launch, there have been no incidents involving serious injury or loss of life to students using the service.

“These are purpose-built buses and not just ordinary bus, so they are built with a protection mechanism for safety for these children,” he said.

Additionally, he said discussions are being undertaken with the finance ministry regarding implementation of phase two of the initiative.

“We had intended to do another 100 buses for this financial year. We are still in discussions with the Ministry of Finance based on budgetary constraints, based on [Hurricane] Melissa, but I know that it is a priority for the Cabinet, and I know it’s a priority for all my colleague ministers and members of parliament on both sides of the House,” he said.