MAY PEN, Clarendon — The Clarendon Parish Council says its Safe School Bus Service initiative has been having the desired impact after just one week of the new school year.

“The service was rolled out successfully on Monday, September 1 ,for three local schools: Glenmuir, Foga Road and Denbigh High, as part of a four-month pilot project to improve student commute in the parish,” a news release from the parish council said.

However, Central Clarendon Member of Parliament Mike Henry told Observer Central by telephone that the project seemed to lack ambition and was long overdue.

“What is sad for me is that this should have been done … years ago and should have been linked to a railway plan (as part of a) multimodal transport plan,” said Henry, who was Transport minister under the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) administration of 2007-2011.

Henry said there were too “many issues that are not clear” about the new initiative. He reiterated his claim that a “full plan” to serve schools in Clarendon, the wider central Jamaica and eventually all of rural Jamaica was “in place” when government changed hands following victory by the People’s National Party (PNP) in December 2011.

There have been persistent calls by rural MPs and others for a dedicated and safe transport system to serve rural Jamaica students, many of whom travel in excess of 20 miles one-way to attend school.

The government, which is in a restrictive economic restructuring arrangement with multilateral lender, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has cited funding as a factor holding back such a transport project.

Following the death of four Holmwood Technical High School students in a horrific bus crash just under a year ago — the latest in a string of such tragedies to affect that school – a limited school bus service was started to serve students from Christiana in north-east Manchester .

The Clarendon Parish Council said its new service was placing emphasis on safety.

“The new service stresses student safety and requires that transport operators conduct themselves according to the minimum School Bus standards developed by the Transport Authority (TA).

“These standards relate specifically to vehicle inspection and fitness, the licensing, training and accreditation of transport operators as well as driver conduct and professionalism. These standards are sensitive to the need for student commuters to feel safe and be properly supervised during commute.

“The JUTC (Jamaica Urban Transit Company) has been temporarily engaged in the service while rural stage carriage operators get their buses up to the minimum School Bus standards as they will eventually be offering the service,” the release from the parish council said.

Secretary/Manager for the Clarendon Parish Council Rowhan Blake described the bus service as a phenomenal success and suggested that its expansion to other Clarendon schools should be actively pursued.

The parish council release said eight local, rural stage carriage operators have joined the Safe School Bus Service fleet since it began operation last Monday.

“Regular reviews of the service will be conducted by the Steering Committee led by the Clarendon Parish Council, Transport Authority, Jamaica Constabulary Force, rural stage carriage operators, and participating schools during the pilot period with the aim of refining operations and expanding the service.

“The Safe School Bus Service is the culmination of seven months of steering committee meetings, stakeholder and community consultations, school visits and an intensive public sensitisation campaign.

“The committee convened in February 2014 in response to the Clarendon Parish Council’s concern for the unsafe way in which students in the parish were being transported to and from school. The parish council engaged the agencies with stakeholder interest in the safety of student commute and together identified and implemented the Safe School Bus Service as a solution.

“The Clarendon Parish Council is seeking to partner with corporate Jamaica in an effort to enhance the operations of the Safe School Bus Service,” the release said.