Chaos over bus suspensions easing slightly
The furore created over the past days due to the suspension of public-school bus services and other buses appears to be settling with parent groups optimistic that all vehicles will be outfitted with anti-engine-fire systems by next Monday.
Speaking on CyBC’s morning programme, Minister of Education Athena Michaelidou said the safety of the students was of top priority and worth the temporary inconvenience resulting from the buses being pulled.
Schools and commuters descended into chaos on Monday, after more than 500 buses were taken out of service amid safety fears with parents and workers complaining of the inadequate warning which left many unable to make alternate arrangements.
Around 6,000 students were affected with hundreds turning up late or not attending at all, while in Paphos no buses at all were in operation.
Michaelidou said the ministry was awaiting data collection over the next two days to determine how to best aid parents struggling to get their children to school, however, she brushed aside suggestions that some would have to resort to online learning.
For his part, head of the association of secondary parents, Loizos Constantinou, said he expected the upgraded systems to be received for all affected buses within the week.
A lack of confidence nonetheless lingers over the safety record and practices of the public bus companies in general, with Constantinou noting that regular maintenance checks must be in place and overseen.
“Some people need to do their jobs correctly and if they don’t there should be consequences,” he said.
Minister of Transport Alexis Vafeades on Monday noted that the state of affairs regarding bus safety “did not inspire confidence” and promised closer checks on bus companies and an investigation to determine where exactly the weaknesses lay.
However, fleet director for Emel, the Limassol public bus company, Michalis Markou said that the drumming up of fear around bus safety was unnecessary and unfounded.
“It is not fair to make it sound as though all buses are death traps,” the director said, noting that no engine fire incidents had occurred in 15 years of service on Emel buses, a fact that was not due to luck but the result of proper maintenance.
The faulty buses concern a specific brand and are vehicles subcontracted by companies solely to serve school populations, it was clarified.
“We were asked to install the anti-fire-engine systems and we have no problem doing so, as we have already done this in [over 200] buses,” Markou said.
He noted that the cost of installation per vehicle is around €2,000 at the highest and for Emel this concerns around eight buses.
Asked about the delay in installation, which the ministry had requested in October, the Emel spokesman said it was not due to any reluctance on the part of the companies but due to the fact that a proper assessment needed time to ensure that each bus was outfitted correctly.
The director was at pains to point out that retrofitting of buses for safety features is not common practice in Cyprus or abroad, and that this was a first.