Over 1.2 million students in Saudi Arabia utilise transport services. With 30,000 school buses in activity, that means there are around 69,000 trips every day. The education world in Saudi Arabia continues to grow steadily. Schools and parents rely heavily on third-party transport service providers to ensure students arrive at school and return home safely.
Most people are unaware that the majority of school buses on our roads are not owned by schools nor fitted with any monitoring systems. Unfortunately, this means that when an incident occurs, neither parents, schools, or service providers have accurate information about bus activity while on the road – leading to a lack of responsibility and accountability. A number of incidents have taken place in past few years in Saudi Arabia and throughout the GCC. Unfortunately children have been injured and even lost their lives, due to negligent behaviors. Lack of monitoring strategies meant there was no way of finding out what had happened and how to resolve such issues. In very few cases, bus drivers themselves took the initiative to ensure all children on their bus were safely dropped. This has led to many parents raising concern and questioning whether their children are safe on school buses.
Unmonitored school buses do not comply with Saudi Arabia’s Transport General Authority (TGA) regulations. TGA regulations state that school transport buses must be equipped with the right tools to preserve student safety and provide evidence in the event of any unexpected incident.
Saferoad’s Bus Management System (BMS) provides our customers with the ultimate solution through our digitally transformative approach to bus safety in compliance with TGA regulations.
What is BMS:
BMS is an IoT-enabled comprehensive solution that, from a single dashboard, allows users complete access to:
- real-time bus monitoring (speed, location, status)
- bus routes for pick-up and drop-off
- driver behaviour, fuel consumption
- bus maintenance records
- live viewing (road, passengers, driver)
- camera history playback
The operating system enables students’ school and home locations to be configured. Through connected devices, bus and driver activities are monitored in real-time. BMS’s phone application lets drivers view the stations they need to start, stop and end trips at, taking passenger counts at each stop.
Buses are fitted with AVL Monitoring Devices, Cameras, and TV Screens. All information from the equipment is shared with the BMS dashboard in real time to locate the buses, drivers, and passengers on board, providing constant visibility.
Saferoad’s BMS means increased visibility through real-time monitoring of the vehicle’s whereabouts. Parents, schools, and transport companies can constantly check if the buses are taking designated routes, drivers are behaving appropriately, and whether all passengers are safe. With BMS, fleet operators can rest assured their buses will operate efficiently, optimally, and safely!
Saferoad also assists transport companies with acquiring operating cards following their integration through the WASL platform that approves and identifies issues within the transport company’s registration and driver information. Once the process is complete, a fleet is eligible to operate in compliance with TGA regulations.
Saferoad’s BMS not only ensures that the buses operate optimally, reducing maintenance cost and fuel consumption, but, it also means parents can worry less about their children travelling to and from school safely.
BMS adds security and comfort for everyone involved, no child is left behind!
Source Links:
- Transport Fleet Read For New Academic Year in Saudi Arabia: https://www.arabnews.com/node/1911681/saudi-arabia
- UAE: Children Who Died After Being Left in Buses: https://gulfnews.com/uae/uae-children-who-died-after-being-left-in-vehicles-1.1573629130540
- Qatar: Death Of Girl Left Behind on Bus Prompts Calls for School Reform: https://gulfnews.com/uae/uae-children-who-died-after-being-left-in-vehicles-1.1573629130540
- Saudi Arabia: A Child Dies in a School Bus: https://www.saudimoments.com/saudi-arabia-a-child-dies-in-a-school-bus-512499.html
- Diligent Driver Averts Disaster in a School Bus: https://saudigazette.com.sa/article/553683
- Images: https://www.eyeofriyadh.com/news/details/national-trade-company-to-supply-more-than-1000-king-long-school-bus-to-seitco