WESTERN BUREAU — The South Trelawny school bus that was commissioned into service less than six weeks ago, has been suspended because the bus is in need of tyres.

President of the School Principal Association, Rudolph Brown told the Observer on Wednesday that the bus went out of service before the Easter holiday because the association did not have the approximately $40,000 to purchase the tyres needed to put the bus back on the road.

In February, member of parliament for the area, Doreen Chen donated the bus to the School Principals Association, which was given responsibility for the management of the school bus service.

The bus was to be used to transport students living in communities in the South Trelawny region and was expected to ease the plight of the students who were finding it difficult to commute.

But Brown said that since the bus was commissioned into service, it has been plagued with problems.

“We have been having problems with the bus since we started. The bus has not operated for one full week,” he said, adding that although the problems were minor, they were costly.

Brown also claimed that the School Principals Association had been losing money from the provision of the service and that its members have had to use their personal funds to keep the bus in operation.

But despite the lack of funds, Brown said that he was confident that the service would resume in the near future.

“We have to get the bus back on the road soon because it is beneficial to the students. The bus helps them to commute to and from school early,” he added.

He said the members of the association would be meeting within the next few days to discuss the future of the school bus service.

At that meeting, Brown said, he would be putting forward a proposal to the members of the association that calls for some of the profit made from the recent Yamboree 2002 event, to be used to put the service back in place. A proposal will also be made to divest the school bus service.

“We need to get someone with the technical competence to operate the service. I don’t think we can run it efficiently,” Brown said.

Meanwhile, Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) candidate for South Trelawny, Devon McDaniel has questioned why the sitting MP purchased the bus in the first place.

According to McDaniel, who works in the transportation industry, the $1.8 million that was used to purchase and refurbish the bus could have been used to buy a new bus.

“I find it rather strange why Chen would buy a bus that is more than 10 years old for that amount of money, when she could buy a new bus which is more reliable,” McDaniel said.

He predicted that the bus would continue to be plagued with mechanical problems, as it will not be able to cope with the hilly terrain of South Trelawny.