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Transport minister checks on free school bus operations

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File Photo: Students boarding the school bus.

KUCHING: Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin recently experienced for himself the free school bus services as well as check on operations.

A statement from the Ministry of Transport Sarawak (MoTS) said that at around 5.30am on Thursday (Sept 3), Lee took a school bus ride in the Sungai Apong area of Pending, where the bus sent students to SK St Andrew, SJK Sungai Apong, and SMK Pending.

The purpose of the school bus ride was to check on its operation, especially how the bus picked up students at designated assembly points in the residential areas in Sungai Apong and sent them to their respective schools.

At the same time, Yayasan Sarawak together with MOTS are closely monitoring the services rendered by the school buses and compiling data on the ridership, which is necessary to further improve services.

Lee was pleased to note that the school bus was clean, social distancing was observed, and students wore face masks as they entered the bus – measures in place due to the recovery movement control order (RMCO) implemented until Dec 31.

In addition, the bus driver was on hand to receive students as they entered the bus and was the first to get off the bus to ensure that students alighted from the bus and crossed the road safely to their school without any untoward incidents.

Accompanying him were MOTS permanent secretary Buckland Bangik, Yayasan Sarawak director Azmi Bujang and deputy director Louis Simon Peter, and MOTS transport advisor Dr Lawrence Tseu.

The minister and his entourage were able to gauge the schedule and frequency of the bus services that pick students up daily along the same route, beginning at 6am and a second trip at 6.30am.

It was observed that the school bus was able to send the students to school on time before the beginning of the first lesson.

On Sept 10, Lee will be meeting with the director of Yayasan Sarawak and headmasters or principals of schools involved in the Free School Bus Programme in Kuching to obtain feedback from them on ways to further strengthen its implementation.

Based on the feedback received from students so far, it was determined that many parents had installed the free school bus app and they were able to utilise it to track and monitor the movement of the school buses.

MOTS assured that the free school bus service, aside from being free, was reliable and safe.

“The state government through Yayasan Sarawak would like to encourage more parents to send their children to school using this free school bus service.

“The free school bus programme is part of the state government’s overall strategy to address urban traffic congestion especially during peak hours and in city centre. By doing so, more private vehicles will be taken off from the street, thus freeing the road space.

“The Sarawak government through Yayasan Sarawak and MOTS together with the relevant agencies are committed to ensure that the free school bus service will be implemented in major towns in Sarawak,” read the MOTS statement.

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