School bus operators should ensure common pick-up and drop-off points are safe for students: MOE

PARENTS WORRIED ABOUT LONGER DISTANCES

CNA spoke to some parents who expressed concerns about their children’s safety, especially if they have to walk longer distances alone to the pick-up points. The parents also had mixed views on how far these pick-up points should be.

They also questioned if operators, which have been increasing their fees as they cope with issues such as the manpower crunch and high Certificate of Entitlement (COE) prices, will correspondingly reduce their fees if they implement common pick-up and drop-off points.

Operators said a common pick-up point was a good suggestion in theory, with some having implemented it a while ago, but they anticipate parents having issues with it.

Mr Vijay Balasubramaniam, 43, said he would be all right with his older son – who is in Primary 5 – walking up to five minutes away from their Housing Board block. The boy currently takes the school bus that comes to the block.

The data analyst also has a six-year-old daughter who will attend primary school next year. He said he would not be comfortable with her walking beyond a block away to take the school bus.

“My wife and I wanted (our children) to take the bus because it’s more convenient. It’s also safe since it’s just downstairs and we know what time they will leave (home) and get back. If the pick-up point is further now, we’ll be worried … It will sort of defeat the purpose,” he added.

A mother-of-three, who only wanted to be known as Ginny, said she would not want her children walking more than 200m away. Her sons are in Primary 2 and 5.

The Bishan resident currently pays S$440 (US$328) a month in school bus fees, which she said was raised by S$20 per child earlier this year.

“If the operator moves the pick-up point, maybe they can go back to their original price,” she added.

Ms Eileen Tay, who lives in a Pasir Ris condominium unit, said she still expects her child to be picked up and dropped off within the condominium. Several other students in the condominium also take the bus.

COMMON PICK-UP POINT A GOOD SUGGESTION: OPERATORS

Mr Kelvin Tan, the managing partner of Rae Transport Services, said the issue of a common pick-up and drop-off point has been “a problem since donkey years back”.

“There will be complaints here and there but what can we do? It’s a measure that the government realised is actually more feasible, which I think should’ve been established a long time ago. It’s just that in the past, it was not firmly put on the table,” he added.

Mr Tan has encountered issues of bigger school buses not being able to turn into housing estate car parks, which are designed for smaller buses. Some parents think school buses should go all the way into the estate, he added.

Mr Philip Peh, general manager of Tong Tar Transport Service, said that having a common pick-up point was a “good suggestion” by MOE but parents may not be willing to take it up.

“The sense is that many of these young students may be very young,” he added. “Their parents (could find it) quite difficult to bring them out to a common pick-up point.”

Mr Peh, who is also president of the Singapore School & Private Hire Bus Owners’ Association, said he has not received feedback from other operators about this since it was only recently announced.

He noted that this will not be a “real solution” for the manpower shortage given that not every driver can drive a big bus to a common pick-up point.

“We still need a large pool of drivers to replace the retiring groups of drivers or those who are out of this industry, so it’s still very much a problem.

“You can only solve the current problems you are facing but in the long term, three to five years down the road, we don’t know what will happen with the shortage of manpower,” he added.

Nevertheless, Mr Peh said he was grateful to MOE for listening to the concerns of operators and drivers, pointing to the increased foreign driver quota.