Emirates Transport (ET), the largest provider of school transport in the UAE, announced a smooth start for its school transport operations, after the conclusion of the second week of the new academic year.

Abdulla Al Moosa, Acting Executive Director of the School Transport Division at ET, said: “As usual, the company completed an intensive period of preparations ahead of the new year to ensure full readiness at all levels prior to the start of what is an immense transport operation.

“Emirates Transport provides daily transport service for 246,924 male and female students enrolled in 615 various educational institutions, including transporting 170,748 students to-and-from 444 government schools, through 6,010 different routes and 4,125 buses,”.

Al Moosa added that the size of the ET school transport fleet now stands at 9,106 various vehicles – including 8,882 large, medium and small buses – after 403 buses were scrapped and 1,215 new buses added.

In addition to the fleet’s readiness, the Acting Executive Director of the School Transport also emphasised the readiness of the various teams working in school transport, including bus drivers and supervisors, who underwent rigorous qualification and training programmes totalling 54 training programmes, at a rate of 4 training programmes and 12 hours of training for drivers, and 3 training programmes and 9 hours of training for bus supervisors.

Al Moosa also stressed the importance and priority of transport safety for the Company, pointing to the Smart Safety System which has been in operation on the Company’s school buses since 2014 and has seen several qualitative developments and updates over the past few years, adding that the system now includes a number of integrated smart and electronic programmes and equipment, to ensure the maximum possible protection for transported students.