KUCHING: The state government’s free school bus service initiative will be launched in Kuching in April, covering 18 zones and 21 routes at this time.
Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin said that this programme would have 32 buses to serve 32 schools, benefiting approximately 144,000 students.
“The free school bus service aims to provide a convenient travelling mode to and from school. Furthermore, it aims to lessen the burden of the low-income families in urban areas in meeting the cost of transportation to school.
“Ultimately, as an alternative mode of transportation, this service would also help to ease traffic congestion in the city,” he said when speaking at the Free School Bus Programme Briefing at Yayasan Sarawak here yesterday.
He said the initiative would be extended to Miri, Sibu, and Bintulu later on – using Kuching as a trial run and model first.
“Concurrent with this initiative, the government will construct, upgrade, and carry out improvement works for provision of bus shelters or bus stops and other associated infrastructure and facilities along the bus routes, including for the city bus users,” said Lee.
He said that the state government had given the responsibility of implementing the bus service to Yayasan Sarawak.
He called for the Bumiputera School Bus Operators Association Kuching-Samarahan Division as the service provider to cooperate by ensuring that bus drivers do not use shortcuts or alternative routes other than those assigned in order to reach their school destinations.
“I hope the association will also ensure the safety of the buses and students, in addition to making sure that bus drivers are prudent,” he said.
“The school buses should be registered and they have to undergo the relevant tests and be covered by insurance,” he added.
Since this was a new system, he said that there may be hiccups along the way. He, therefore, encouraged feedback from stakeholders including service users so that adjustments could be made if practical and achievable.
Lee stressed that punctuality was crucial and the schedule had to be adhered to in order to ensure students arrive at their respective schools on time.
He also hoped that schools with sufficient compound space would allow students to be picked up and dropped off within the compound itself to further ensure their safety.
During the briefing session, he presented the logo stickers which would be displayed on all buses under the free school bus service programme.
Also present were Yayasan Sarawak director Azmi Bujang, Transport Ministry permanent secretary Buckland Bangik, Sarawak Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) general manager Abdul Hadi Datuk Abdul Kadir, and Commercial Vehicles Licencing Board (LPKP) Sarawak director Razami Mohamad Jamali.
