Blessed buses ready to roll

By: Sashana Small

Image caption: Daryl Vaz, minister of science, energy, telecommunications and transport, uses white rum to bless the vehicles to be utilised in the National Rural School Bus Programme during a ceremony held yesterday at Jamaica House in St Andrew to officially mark the commissioning of the buses.

Transport Minister Daryl Vaz says the retrofitting, servicing, tyre changes and route reviews for the National Rural School Bus Programme have been completed for the roll-out of phase one of the initiative on September 8. 

Addressing a blessing ceremony for the buses at Jamaica House in St Andrew yesterday, Vaz said 73 children have been killed in road crashes between 2022 and 2025, including 12 children since the start of this year. 

He said the loss of these lives highlights the significance of the National Rural School Bus Programme, which is expected to provide a much safer and dependable option by which students in rural Jamaica will travel to and from school. 

“For too long, parents in rural communities have faced uncertainty over safe, reliable and affordable transportation for their children to and from school. Too often, students have had to compete with adults for space and resort to unsafe means of getting to class,” he said. 

He added: “This programme is the Government’s response; it is about equity, safety and dignity, ensuring that children in rural parishes can travel to school without fear.”

He reiterated that students from 258 schools across the island will benefit from the implementation of the $1.4-billion programme in phase one, with 55 of the 122 routes being launched across all parishes served by 60 of the first 110 buses.

The remaining buses will be introduced gradually between September and November, with an additional 10 buses held in reserve to guarantee continuity of service, the minister noted. 

Further, he said 12 of the buses will serve eight special-needs schools, and an additional two will be added in phase two. 

GPS TRACKING FOR PARENTS

Stating that the buses are fit for purpose, Vaz said that in addition to retrofitting them for Jamaica’s safety needs, the buses are equipped with GPS tracking, which will be available to parents; speedometers; on-board surveillance cameras; and a cashless payment system. 

He said 120 drivers who will operate the buses have also been trained in areas of child supervision, emergency response, and the laws that protect students. He said they will be supported by dispatchers, coordinators and maintenance teams.

Additionally, Vaz said regional support hubs are being established, daily sanitation and maintenance routines are built into operation, and a dedicated rural school bus division has been set up within the Jamaica Urban Transit Company to oversee and ensure reliable service.

“I take full responsibility that what we have done is the best that we could do in the timeline we do it,” he said. 

Noting that there are 850 schools across rural Jamaica with a population of more than 300,000, Vaz committed that all schools will be part of the programme within the next two years. 

The People’s National Party (PNP) has insisted that the used buses under the Government’s policy are not suited for the country’s hilly terrain and will cost millions of dollars in maintenance.

Most recently, Opposition Spokesman on Education Damion Crawford indicated that a PNP government would overhaul the programme to ensure greater input from school administrators and more targeted support for children most in need.

The latest RJRGLEANER-commissioned Don Anderson poll shows that a majority of Jamaicans back the Government’s rural school bus system over the Opposition’s cash voucher proposal. According to the survey, 55.1 per cent of respondents support the bus plan, while 34.2 per cent favour the People’s National Party’s initiative and 10.7 per cent remain undecided.

Vaz said the findings of the poll are “heartening”, as the country achieving this much consensus on an issue is rare. 

“Blessing the buses is a standard procedure for any initiative like this, but I do believe that they need a little extra blessing to wash away all the negativity that has come as a result of the introduction of this game-changing initiative,” he said.

Join the Discussion