Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) announced the addition of 125 new buses to the fleet of Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC), under the administration of HE Mattar Al Tayer, director-general and chairman of the board of executive directors, RTA.
The additions were planned to help cope with growing school transport activity with the number of students expected to utilise the buses increasing to 10,000 in the next academic year, compared to 7,000 last year.
RTA said the buses would meet international safety standards and are split between 85 vehicles with 22 seats, 20 vehicles with 58 seats, and 10 vehicles with 35 seats. Features include superior finishing, noise-free environment, deluxe seats, surveillance cameras and sensors to ensure all students have disembarked, an emerging button to contact the control centre, GPS tracking, and an automated engine fire-suppression system.
“Lifting millions of students every day, the school transport is considered one of the key public transport sectors in the world. Through widening its school transport activity, the RTA is seeking to provide safe and smooth mobility for all students of different ages. It aims to be a pioneer in offering excellent and safe school transport services, and encourage parents to have their children lifted to and from schools by school transport buses rather than private vehicles. Through this strategy, the RTA would be able to support the UAE Education Strategy 2020, improve the school transport service in Dubai, and strike a balance between supply and demand,” said Al Tayer.
Al Tayer added: “Current indicators show that the number of students in Dubai cross 294,000, and the registered number of school buses last year in Dubai were 5,922 . The number of school buses are anticipated to rise to as many as 7,600 buses by 2020 and double up to 14,400 buses by 2030.”
RTA, which has entered the school transport business through the DTC in the school year 2015-2016, is seeking to raise its school bus fleet to about 650 buses by 2024.