The Dubai Taxi Corporation (DTC) at the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA), has introduced a series of precautionary measures in support of the school transport service from the start of the new academic term. The move aims to protect students against the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The Dubai Taxi Corporation is making exceptional efforts to keep pace with the local and global trends of protection against the coronavirus. These measures stem from our keenness to ensure the safety of students commuting between homes and schools and make their travel an enjoyable experience. Measures will also re-boost the confidence of parents in the school transport service provided to their children,” said Marwan Al Zarooni, Director of Operation and Commercial Affairs, DTC, RTA.
“We have taken several preventive measures for the safety of students including maintaining regular bus disinfection programmes before and after students use them, and limiting the bus capacity to only 50% of the total number of students on board. Moreover, bus assistants will measure students’ temperature before boarding the bus.
“About three thousand students are registered in the school transport service where more than 175 dedicated buses are deployed. 22 contracted schools in Dubai are privileged by DTC’s premium school transport service. The success of the service is attributed to the fine selection and training of 350 drivers of our smart buses. They are supported by 117 trained assistants to deal with students of different age groups. They are also trained on the handling of emergencies and certified in the delivery of First Aid assistance by the Dubai Corporation for Ambulance Services. They are also trained on other fields to ensure the delivery of exceptional services to students,” he added.
“Our buses are fitted with smart technologies to ensure higher levels of safety and security. These systems include surveillance cameras, sensors to ensure buses are free from students, an emergency button for communicating with the control centre, and GIS-powered tracking system of both students and buses as well as Vehicle Identification Pass (ViP) through Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Buses are also fitted engine self-extinguishing system. All these features have been selected to conform to the highest global safety standards,” continued Al Zarooni.
“To request the service or obtain updates, parents are welcomed to their platform on the website of the Dubai Taxi Corporation under the link (https://schoolbus.dubaitaxi.ae/parentportal); which will also assist them with the online payment. Through this portal, parents can track the movement of the bus and students, and figure out the pick-up and drop-off points. It also contains an indicator to measure the happiness and satisfaction of parents. The service supports DTC School Bus app available at Google Play and iOS Stores, thus enabling the tracking of the movement of students by using smartphones.
“DTC always seeks to be trustworthy and the first choice in the smart school transport sector for the largest number of schools and universities in Dubai. These objectives are aligned with the strategic goals of the DTC, namely People Happiness and Excellent Operation,” he concluded.
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