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

SINGAPORE: School bus operators that choose to designate common pick-up and drop-off points should ensure they are "safe and well-selected", such as being sheltered or with minimal traffic, said the Ministry of Education (MOE) on Monday (Jun 19).

Parents are also encouraged to select a safe walking route for their child or ensure their younger children are chaperoned while they walk to and from these points, the ministry said in response to CNA's queries.

“As bus operators plan their routes and pick-up and drop-off points based on requests they receive, parents who have concerns can discuss with their school bus operator should they require pick-up and drop-off points nearer to home,” MOE added.

This comes a week after MOE announced several measures to address the shortage of school bus drivers. Some companies have been forced to terminate their contracts with schools amid the shortage.

Among these measures were allowing operators to hire more foreign drivers as well as designate common pick-up and drop-off points. The latter could help them ferry more students on each school bus route and, where appropriate, use larger-capacity buses.

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.

INCREASED FOREIGN WORKER QUOTA NOT FOR SUB-CONTRACTS

On Monday, MOE also addressed concerns from smaller operators about the foreign worker quota for school bus drivers.

Operators who secure contracts to serve at least two MOE schools can submit applications to the ministry to request a higher quota on a "time-limited basis”. This means that smaller operators will not benefit.

Mr Tan from Rae Transport Services has a contract for one primary school since 2015, and serves two other schools as a sub-contractor under a bigger operator. He supplies about 10 buses in total.

Another operator, F1 Transport, also has a contract with MOE for one school. Its director, who wanted to be known as Mr Lai, said his company does not have the confidence to tender for two schools given the manpower shortage.

MOE said that the additional foreign worker quota does not apply to sub-contracts as these are privately arranged by the appointed operators.

The ministry encouraged those that can serve more than one school to directly bid for about 60 upcoming school bus tenders to replace contracts expiring this year. If required and eligible, they can also apply for the additional foreign worker quota as an appointed operator.

“As there are many competing needs for manpower, we have to prioritise our support based on factors such as the extent of the operator’s participation in serving our schools and their commitment to local employment outcomes,” MOE said.

“MOE will continue to engage school bus associations and operators to gather feedback on the assistance we can provide to allow operators to sustain their business, while supporting our students’ need for school bus services," it added.