Amali Munif Rahmat president of persekutuan persatuan persatuan bus sekolah Malaysia chair The Press conference after The 46th AGM.next are his deputy Wu Chee Leong.
BATU CAVES: School bus operators are at a loss after the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) ceased accepting and processing new permit applications starting Dec 1.
This complicated matters for some 12,000 school bus operators nationwide as SPAD will only be replaced by APAD (Agensi Pengangkutan Awam Darat) from Jan 14, 2019, said the Federation of
Malaysian School Bus Operators Associations (FMSBOA).
This means that during the interim period, no new permits can be issued and this affects school bus operators, especially those in the outskirts, said FMSBOA president Amali Munif Rahmat.
"SPAD only issued a notice about the cessation on Nov 15, a mere two weeks before they stopped taking permit applications.
"During November and December, which are the school holidays, school bus operators usually buy new buses to replace their old ones as it is the only free period they have.
"Before the bus can be used to ferry children, we have to get approval from a number of agencies including a permit from SPAD.
"But, since SPAD has stopped accepting new applications from Dec 1, we don't know what to do as APAD, which is supposed to replace SPAD, does not exist yet. We don't know who to turn to," Amali said after the 46th FMSBOA annual general meeting at Dewan Beringin here on Thursday (Dec 20).
"We don't know how APAD will operate or when it will open up applications for permits. This not only affects school bus operators but all transport operators as well," Amali added.
He also expressed his disappointment that the Transport Ministry did not send any representatives to the AGM despite Transport minister Anthony Loke receiving an invitation by hand last week.
"We handed the invitation directly to the minister last week but no representative was sent to this AGM.
"We think maybe the government does have a plan but they have not announced it to the public yet. We hope they do so soon," he said.
On June 6, Loke announced that APAD will take over the functions of SPAD after it was decommissioned in May.
Loke said the enforcement, management and issuance of private and commercial licences would, in future, be handled solely by the Road Transport Department (RTD).
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