In Decree 616-22, issued on Saturday, 22 October 2022 and published on Monday, 24 October, President Luis Abinader instructs the Ministry of Education to urgently carry out the procurement and contracting processes for goods and services that will be used in the implementation of the first National School Mobility System.
Juan Avila, president of the Society of Parents of Children of Private Schools and Public Schools, nevertheless, recommends the government not create a new entity for transporting children to school. Avila says this is not the moment to buy new buses and create a new entity when the Metropolitan Office of Bus Services (OMSA) already exists. Instead he says OMSA is there and is just fine. He says OMSA is already offering excellent service.
“We call on the President and the Minister of Education instead to reach an agreement with the OMSA so that children can ride free on the buses,” said the president of the Federation.
Avila says the resources that would go to buy new buses and create the public-private alliances proposed by the government should be used instead to finish the public schools that are under construction. He said the money should also be directed to reinforce security in public schools.
Diario Libre observes that the Transport Law 63-17 orders Intrant to regulate school transportation. Decree 616-22 ordering the Ministry of Education to start the school bus service does not mention the Intrant.
The president of the Central Nacional de Transportistas Unificados (CNTU), William Pérez Figuereo, pointed out that the free children school bus service would be a financial relief to parents and would make traffic in the cities safer and less congested. CNTU is one of the syndicated bus associations that by violence in the past imposed themselves on city routes and now are preparing to benefit from the public-private alliance organized by Intrant for bus transport service in the cities.
The Abinader administration has been going forward with public-private alliances that grant the routes that were taken by force by large syndicated groups of drivers to these and set the conditions for these to develop lucrative businesses with little risk. In the scheme, the government practically guarantees profitability to the syndicates. The fares of the new bus routes are much more expensive than OMSA buses and users have seen the cost of transport on the shorter routes increase from RD$15 to RD$35 with less frequencies.
The school buses scheme would be separate for the general public transport routes organized by Intrant.
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Noticias SIN
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
El Caribe
Diario Libre
Decree 616-22
25 October 2022