One common complaint that government has received from students is the lack of proper services by bus companies for school bus runs.
This has been stressed by the Acting Prime Minister and Minister for Economy Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum who says that this issue has been brought to their attention by students in the Northern, Western, Eastern and Central divisions during the 2017/2018 budget consultations.
While speaking at the Fiji Bus Operators Association Convention, Sayed‑Khaiyum says that one other complaint received is that students notice that they generally tend to get the oldest buses in the fleet to service the school bus route, the drivers are rude and sometimes pick them up or do not pick them up and bus drivers refuse to take students after a particular time.
The Acting Prime Minister reminded the Bus Operators Association that the government pays $21 million a year in bus subsidies and these are issues that the association needs to address as the government does not have a service agreement with them.
He adds that in the next 4 weeks the government will work with the association to have a service agreement in order to lift the quality of services provided particularly to school students by the bus operators.
Sayed‑Khaiyum says along with the formulation of the service agreement, the government will be looking to expand the bus operators services to certain areas that they do not operate in.
