In a dramatic turnaround, the Dominican Republic’s public school transport program, TRAE, has achieved the remarkable feat: reducing the number of students who have died commuting to or from school from a staggering 400 in a year to zero in its inaugural year.
At present, the TRAE operates the buses along 602 routes with 1,700 buses covering 7,000 km and benefiting more than nine million public school children. The program has affiliated private sector suppliers but demands these dedicate the bus units exclusively to school transport.
In its first seven months, 9.8 million students have benefited with estimated economic savings of RD$2.l 9 billion the families had been paying for transportation of their children.
In an interview for El Despertador morning talk show on Channel 9, the director of the Sistema de Transporte Estudiantil (TRAE) of the Ministry of Education, Oneximo Gonzalez gave insights into the inspiration, impact and transparency of the program and the challenges.
Oneximo Gonzalez is a highly-reputed engineering professional who is always remembered for being the technical director behind Onatrate, the very successful public transport system under the government of Antonio Guzman (1978-1982).
He was handpicked by President Luis Abinader to kickstart the TRAE public school program. While not well known in the main-stream media or social media, the program has brought peace and calm to hundreds of thousands of families that can now send their children to school and be assured they will get back safe and sound as has happened in the first year.
During the interview with El Despertador, Gonzalez shared the detail that Abinader implemented the program because he used public transportation himself to travel to study in the Loyola Politecnico in San Cristobal when he was a youth.
Gonzalez says that after he was hired for the project, he looked into the statistics, and confirmed the many tragedies that were happening with the students riding motorcycles and other public transport media. He said he uncovered the grim detail in the Transport Observatory (Observatorio Vial) of the death whereby noting that around 400 children had lost their lives when commuting to or from school.
The TRAE program seeks to end that situation and so far has been very successful. Gonzalez attributes this to the training of the carefully chosen drivers, bus assistants and supervisors. Another factor is that the program obliges that the drivers be from the locality they service, so they are well known and respected in the designated area. TRAE was created by Presidential Decree 616-22.
Oneximo Gonzalez was invited to explain the program now that kingpins of the transport world, including senator Antonio Marte (of Conatra-fame) seemingly seek to muscle their way to increased participation, bending the rules. Gonzalez used the interview to explain the transparency and the impact of the program and called for respect for the tenders under the Procurement Law 340-06.
He mentioned traditional transporters were announcing strikes against TRAE, protesting what they called unfair competition by the government.
Antonio Marte, the senator and in his own words the all-powerful owner of Conatra, has expressed he wants more participation in TRAE, the school transport program.
Gonzalez explained that the TRAE program is already benefiting 61% of the public school population or around one million students. The service operates in 13 provinces that were mainly chosen for poverty levels and their lack of accessibility for the public school students leading to many accidents. Once new buses arrive by October 2024, the services will be available in the capital city and 31 provinces. Cibao provinces have been left for last but will be added in time for the start of the 2024-25 school year.
The tender for the first year was won by Caribe Tours, the largest bus company in the Dominican Republic, and Magna Motors’s Translogic transport affiliate.
Gonzalez highlights that safety has been foremost in the setup of the new service that is free for public school children.
Gonzalez said the new tender for 500 buses requires buses be dated 2022-2024. He explained that he has met with pressure by those who seek to import lower-costing buses that are more than 10 years old.
The first pilot was carried out reconstructing abandoned Hyundai buses from 10 January to June 2023 servicing Monte Plata and San Cristobal with significant impact. This followed with the allowing of buses dating 2019 to 2024. But the most recent tender demands buses be from 2022-24.
Gonzalez invites Conatra to participate but says the transport company needs to comply with the rules of the tenders as the others.
Gonzalez explains that previous to setting up the system they worked hard to plan the school bus system. He said 4,175 drivers, assistants and supervisors were trained.
“Those vehicles are transporting the future of the country; the way you treat them will be our society,” he said.
Gonzalez explained the Ministry of Education is buying 850 buses for the new school year, including buses with ramps for those with disabilities. The first 300 electrical buses are expected to be in service for the 2024-25 school year.
Antonio Marte won a tender for RD$440 million to supply services of 66 buses in San Cristobal, where he is in majority. The tender is for the rental of the buses that exclusively be used for school transport.
The buses are subject to digital monitoring by TRAE to ensure compliance with route and safety specifications. All TRAE students are covered by an accident and life insurance.
Once the system is complete, the operation of 1,820 buses is contemplated. Gonzalez explains the largest private company is Caribe Tours has 940 buses in operation.
Yet, Gonzalez is clear of the importance of transfering the ownership of the buses to the private sector. He bitterly recalls that governments change and that was the demise of Onatrate, a very successful operation, that died when the government changed from Antonio Guzman to Salvador Jorge Blanco, same political party, but different government. He is saddened that six months into the new government, despite its proven success as a public transport service, Onatrate desisted from being after all the efforts to provide the country with a state of the art public transport service at the time.
The model now being used by the Abinader government is to create trusts to ensure the service continues.
“I explained to the Minister of Education the social and economic impact of the program makes it important the program continue when he and I are gone from the positions,” he said.
Gonzalez says the program is of regional impact. He said the Interamerican Development Bank is making US$400 million in funds available for similar programs in cities in the Americas.
He said the Dominican Republic has invested RD$8.9 billion so far in the TRAE program and the total investment will be around RD$10.5 billion once it is deployed nationwide with the contemplated 1,872 buses.
Follow the story in Spanish:
You Tube El Despertador
El Gobierno de la Mañana interview with Antonio Marte
TRAE Decree 616-22 h
Presidency
Presidency
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
25 July 2024