An air gun and pellets inside a school bus, firecrackers, vandalism, theft of safety equipment and an incident in which students emptied a fire extinguisher, as a result of which the driver fainted and was taken to the hospital were among the serious incidents that overshadowed the debate today in the parliamentary Transport Committee on the safety of school buses.
The Committee brought the issue back by asking for specific answers after the findings of the Audit Office last June, focusing on the technical suitability of the vehicles that will be used to transport students during the new school year.
As reported before the Committee, before July 442 buses had passed an inspection, while from July until today another 319 have successfully passed a technical inspection and 40 have failed.
The Department of Road Transport has asked all contracting companies to submit the fleet they intend to use for student transport.
There are still buses for which the completion of the checks or the submission of the required data is pending, but this does not mean, as clarified, that they will be used on the school routes of the new year.
During the discussion, reference was made to 761 buses that have been declared for this school year. The authorities explained that this number is greater than the real needs, as the contractors also declare spare vehicles. Indicatively, in Famagusta, where about 100 routes are required, about 150 available buses are declared.
At the same time, the Head of Public Passenger Transport, Andreas Nikiforou, announced intensive and unannounced inspections during September. Supervisors have already drawn up a schedule of visits to schools, without announcing in advance where and when the checks will be carried out. This practice, as he said, is done every year as "ten supervisors nationwide are instructed to carry out inspections both in the morning and at noon, throughout the school year"
All representatives of the contractor companies assured the Commission that they are fully ready for the start of the new school year and the execution of the student routes.
Vandalism
The debate was ignited when representatives of tourist bus companies referred to incidents of vandalism and dangerous behaviour of students.
The president of the Pancyprian Association of Tourist Buses, Pambos Kapnos, stated that about 40 tourist companies are involved in the execution of CPT school routes alone and spoke of damages of thousands of euros.
"Parents' Associations are good to have demands, but they must understand that perpetuating a problem is not a solution. When there are delinquents inside the buses and they cause thousands of euros in damages, the next day the route will not be operated due to safety," he said.
Mr. Kapnos described an incident in which students opened a fire extinguisher inside a bus, as a result of which the driver fainted and was taken to the hospital. As he said, despite the incident, there was pressure for the route to continue.
The committee also referred to serious damage to a bus in Athienou, but also to an incident in Larnaca where students lit a firecracker in a vehicle. At the same time, he raised the issue of delayed response of the Police in such cases.
Special reference was also made to the safety hammers of the buses, which the students steal.
Responding to the reports of delinquency, the president of the Confederation of Organized Parents of Secondary Education, Loizos Konstantinou, noted that about 25.000 students use the buses. "Students who take such actions must face consequences and their parents must cover the damages," said Konstantinou.
The installation of cameras on school buses, as well as the presence of supervisors on problematic routes, was put on the table again. On the part of the Ministry of Transport, it was reported that the presence of guards was tested in a limited number of cases, without yielding the expected results. Parents are positive about the installation of cameras on the buses, according to Loizos Konstantinou.
