More families ditch school bus service to cut cost

A school bus picking up students in Sepang. — Filepic

Mother-of-four Salina Osman, 38, used to rely on a school bus to send her children to school.

That changed last year when her company introduced the “work from home” arrangement, giving Salina more flexibility in her daily schedule.

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“The rotation system for physical attendance at school made it difficult to keep track of my children’s bus schedule.

“So I decided to discontinue the service. This also allows me to cut spending as I no longer pay the monthly fee for school bus transport,” she said.

Many parents interviewed by StarMetro said they were not keen on using a school bus anymore.

Mother-of-two V. Nair, 43, prefers to ferry her nine-year-old son to school in Nilai, Negri Sembilan, herself as it gave them more time to get ready.

“If he takes the bus, he needs to wake up earlier to catch it.

“Now, we can leave the house after 7am and still arrive at school on time.”

She said her son regularly stayed back after school to take part in extracurricular activities.

“A school bus would not wait for him, so I still have to pick him up.

“Thus, it is a waste of money to use the school bus service,” she added.

Gracie Wong, 46, from Kajang, Selangor, was put off by the high fee charged by a local school bus operator.

“The fee was RM120 per person, which meant I had to fork out RM240 a month for my two boys.

“Although my children enjoyed the bus rides as they could socialise with friends, I decided I couldn’t afford to pay the fee.

“Nowadays, they hitch a ride with their friend’s parents who let them tag along,” she said.

Meanwhile, School Bus Association for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya chairman Mohamad Haron Mohamad Sidek said many operators had ceased their operations.

“They suffered huge financial losses because of the various movement restrictions last year.

“As a result, they could not afford to renew their road tax and insurance, which easily amounts to thousands of ringgit,” he said.

Haron admitted that there was a decline in demand for school buses among parents nowadays.

“They want to cut costs amid the economic uncertainty.

“In response, many operators have shifted to doing other jobs,” he added.

School bus operator Hamziezar Hamzah, 51, however, expressed confidence that demand would rebound after the economy recovered.

“When companies require their employees to go to the office again, school buses will be the preferred mode of transport again,” he said.

Hamziezar charges between RM50 and RM110 per student a month, depending on the distance.

He urged parents to sign up with registered operators who complied with the proper regulations.

“This includes a periodic review of the vehicle’s condition every six months by the authorities,” he said.