Dubai's new traffic plan: Parents urge school bus operators to reduce fees, commute times
To alleviate traffic congestion, the emirate of Dubai has introduced new measures. "Which will help improve traffic flow around schools by 13 per cent" is one of the goals of a new policy that aims to reduce traffic congestion by promoting the use of school buses.
When there is a break, the effect of schools on traffic becomes apparent, says Farah Shah, a resident of the UAE. According to her, "traffic tends to be much lighter" when schools are on break. It appears that a significant amount of traffic is caused by parents driving their children to and from school. We can solve this problem by promoting the use of school buses among parents. Helping school bus companies cut costs and getting the word out to parents about how great it is to use school buses is one approach.
But some parents insist on doing the school run themselves instead of relying on the bus. Among the most common explanations are the high prices and the lengthy travel times.
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Zeina Haddad, a working mother, spends two hours each day driving to and from school to drop off and pick up her children. She even foregoes her lunch break to focus on it. But she won't enrol them in a school bus programme.
The children waste over an hour of their day on the bus, she said, adding that it is exhausting for them. By the way, I'm a father of two. I will be required to pay slightly more than Dh10,000 annually for the school bus service for each of them. Along with their tuition and other fees for extracurricular activities, this is a substantial amount.
"Plus, being a working mother can lead to hectic and hectic times," she remarked. We are able to make up some ground on the way to and from class. Every day, we get together and recount our activities. Therefore, I take great pleasure in doing it, regardless of the cost.
The implementation date of the traffic flow plan is uncertain, despite its approval by the Executive Council on Wednesday. But getting more parents to switch to school buses will need a combined effort from authorities and bus companies.
Things to do during the afternoon
Mini Ilyas relied on the bus service because her daughter was a first-grader when she started school. "I had a very young baby and we were in between cars," she recalled. The bus service, then, was a godsend. It was an unnecessary expense and took a long time for my daughter to get home, but she had a great time on the ride with her friends.
A few years down the road, when she had two school-aged children, she began accompanying them to and from school. "We still use our own transport, and it's been nearly a decade," she stated. Their pick-up times are all over the place because my two high schoolers participate in different extracurricular activities. When planning the school bus system, these considerations seem to be overlooked.
Until about three years ago, Simi's children followed in her footsteps and rode the bus. "My kids were spending 1.5 hours on the bus after COVID-19 when they returned to school," she explained. "The bus company was unprepared to listen to my complaints, reasoning, and numerous attempts to convey that this was unacceptable."
She then made the decision to approach other parents living on her street. She explained that they decided to carpool after talking it over and realising they could switch up who picked them up and dropped them off. Every day, we transport six kids between our three sets of parents. Both time and money are saved.
Travelling by bus
Zeina would consider using a bus service if it were affordable and could transport her children home promptly. "At the moment, I'm working from a location near the school in the afternoons to avoid traffic," she explained. "Sometimes I'll eat in the car instead of during lunchbreak. This being the case, I would most certainly take advantage of bus service if it were inexpensive and the duration of the ride would not exceed one hour for my children. When a parent has more than one child, I believe that bus fare discounts should be available to them.
Mini expressed her willingness to use the school bus service if it meant her children could be picked up and dropped off at their respective after-school programmes. "Most bus services will have a disclaimer that if students are staying back in school for activities, they must organise their transportation after that," according to her. "If I have a bus service that will cater to my children irrespective of their pick up times, I would happily pay for it."
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