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| Sunday, 24 April 2005 |
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School bus services at half fare by Deepal Warnakulasuriya National Transport Commission (NTC) has geared itself to restart the school bus service which rendered a pivotal service to schoolchildren and teachers almost a decade ago. The Treasury has already issued Rs. 15 million to conduct the pilot project and half-rate school bus service will begin mid in July in three provinces, Western, Southern and North-Western. NTC Consultant C. G. Dahanayake told the Sunday Observer that 15 routes from Wayamba, 12 routes from Western and 09 routes from Southern Province have already been selected for the pilot project and interested transport service providers would be selected calling tenders for each province. He said that initially it would deploy 100 state run and 100 private buses and tenders had already been called. He also said that the idea was a brainchild of Minister Dinesh Gunawardene when he was the Transport Minister in the PA regime. According to the NTC Consultant schoolchildren and teachers will have to pay only half the relevant bus fare and the balance will be paid by the NTC at the end of the month after receiving the monthly charts from the School Transport Committees. "Each school will have a transport committee comprising two teachers, two parents, two senior students, officers from relevant police stations and an official from the NTC. It will also comprise a person from the service provider, private bus owner, SLTB or relevant cluster company. Dahanayake also said that special identification would be given to the selected bus with bulbs or stickers. He further added that police would also be informed to always prioritize these school buses on roads. "The project would definitely ease the traffic jam in rush hours and will also provide additional safety for schoolchildren. On the other hand, it would also reduce unnecessary school vans from the roads", he added. The NTC Consultant also added that private bus owners have already given the greenlight for the project and it would help to expand the pilot project islandwide. |
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