Dubai: Emirates Transport Media Dept.
An increasing number of private schools are signing up with Emirates Transport (ET), the sole provider of government school transport in the country, according to figures released by the ET Private Schools Transport Centre.
The Centre signed 16 new transport and other services contracts with 9 schools during 2017, meaning that a total of 69 private schools are now on the books of the ET’s School Transport Division.
The new contracts takes the number of transported students from private schools to a total of nearly 30,000. 
Abdullah bin Swaif ALghufli, executive director of the School Transport Division at ET, said the recent surge in contracts is down to the reputation and standard of services of the federal transport corporation, which has more than 36 years of experience in the field.   
Nawal Al Zarouni, Manager of the ET Private Schools Transport Centre also credited a recent concerted marketing drive targeting private schools for the recent increase in business.
The marketing drive by the Centre aimed to illustrate the benefits of working with such an established transport provider, particularly in view of recent changes in safety regulations.
The Manager of the ET Private Schools Transport Centre added that the growth in contracts from private schools is mirrored by an increase in the Centre’s fleet of buses which more than doubled from the just 400 buses in 2014, when the Centre was first established, to 887 by the end of 2017.