Legal limbo leads to school bus ban

Over 900 primary school students in Tongzhou district started the new school semester without any means of safely getting to class, after public bus companies suspended operations as they await new regulations, which will not be issued for at least another month.

Many of the children have to travel up to two hours to get home to the district's scattered rural villages.

Yesterday afternoon, there were over 100 parents waiting with bicycles and electric tricycles at the gate of Xiaozhangwan Elementary School, Majuqiao Township, Tongzhou district. They had been told last Friday the regular transport, the No.927 bus, would be unavailable, as it is not certified to be a school bus.

"This is such a disaster," said a local resident surnamed Wang, whose granddaughter goes to Xiaozhangwan.

"Most kids now are taken home by us, the grandparents, since their parents are busy at work, but it's very frustrating for people at our age to commute quite far every day," said Wang.

"With several hundred people blocking this narrow intersection, look how dangerous it is for the kids and us. We don't understand why they had to cancel the bus and bring this mess," said Wang.

The families of the school children are spread over 10 villages in the area. Parents were upset and angry, they said, and did not understand why their children could not travel on the No.927 bus, for which they paid 150 yuan ($24) per semester.　

"There used to be minibuses organized by each village to take the children, and then we were told it's only legal and safe to travel by bus," said a parent surnamed Zhang from Guo village.

"Now the kids are used to riding in the No.927, but all of sudden, there's no legal vehicle at all?" said Zhang.

It takes Zhang over 40 minutes to drive his son home on his electric bicycle, while for others, it is a two-hour journey.

Yesterday, a publicity official, surnamed Zhang, from Beijing Public Transport Company said he was unaware of any policy forbidding buses being used as school buses as he "was new there."

The director of the education commission of Majuqiao Township, surnamed Tian, confirmed yesterday that the No.927 buses Xiaozhangwan Elementary School and Dadushe Elementary School had used since 2004 had been cancelled.

"It was convenient for the parents, but there have been requests from all levels to scrutinize the safety of school buses, so neither us or the public transport company could risk the smallest chance of anything happening," said Tian.

Tian said they have taken some "transitional measures" like giving 300 to 800 yuan as a transport subsidy to every family, and appealing for bus companies operating routes near the schools to increase the regularity of their services.　

Wang and Zhang said they had received 350 yuan yesterday and also a notice saying the school would provide free lunches for the children who are unable to go home at lunch time.

"Once the central government issues detailed polices like where to buy school buses that meet the standards, how much the government subsidy will be, and how much we must contribute, we'll take action immediately," said Tian, "right now, we know nothing yet."

China started nationwide school bus safety checks and discussions over new standards in the wake of a number of fatal accidents that stirred public concern over safety last year.

According to a Xinhua News Agency report on February 6, experts from several ministries started a joint review on the new standards last Saturday, focusing on technical details of school buses. They will "copy the shape of 'big-nose' US buses, but be designed especially for Chinese conditions," but the details and how to implement the measures will not be released for at least a month, the report said.　

"The No.927 bus used to take over 90 children, while it was only supposed to have 38 onboard, but it's also dangerous for us to wait here, and it's so inconvenient," said Wang, "but now I guess all we can do is wait."