Four rural stage carriage operators have joined the Clarendon Safe School Bus Service on its second day of operation. The Safe School Bus Service rolled out on Monday, September 1 with a fleet of three JUTC buses.
The Safe School Bus Service is a pilot involving three high schools: Glenmuir, Foga Road and Denbigh High. The new service stresses student safety and requires that transport operators conduct themselves according to the minimum School Bus standards developed by the Transport Authority (TA).
These standards relate to vehicle inspection and approval, the licensing, training and accreditation of transport operators as well as driver conduct and professionalism. The JUTC buses have been engaged temporarily as rural stage carriage operators get their buses up to the minimum safety standards required.
The pilot will run for four months after which the Steering Committee comprised of lead agency the Clarendon Parish Council and partners, the Transport Authority, the Jamaica Constabulary Force, the rural stage carriage operators, the schools’ administration and the Parent Teachers Association will conduct an assessment of the service’s performance with the aim of refining its operations and introducing it to other Clarendon schools.
The Committee convened in February 2014 in response to the Clarendon Parish Council’s concern for the unsafe way in which students in the parish were being transported to and from school. The Parish Council engaged the agencies with stakeholder interest in the safety of student commute and together identified and implemented the Safe School Bus Service as a solution to the problem.
