UAE: Why school bus operators should be subsidised to lower cost for parents

The number of students taking school buses has almost doubled in the past couple of years, Dubai Taxi Company (DTC) – serving a mix of private schools and the Ministry of Education – told Khaleej Times.

In 2023, DTC served more than 24,000 students with its fleet of around 950 school buses. The number went up to 37,000 the following year as DTC’s bus fleet rose to more than 1,100 units. This year, around 40,000 students (up by 16,000 as compared to two years ago) are using DTC school transport, which now has a fleet of more than 1,150 buses.

The number of students taking school buses only reflects figures shared by DTC and does not include other school bus operators like the STS group. But what is clear is that more students using the bus means fewer cars on the road, mitigating traffic, lowering harmful carbon emissions, and financial savings for families. In this regard, transportation experts are pushing for a subsidy to transport operators to offset their expenses and lower the cost for parents.

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Thomas Edelmann, founder and managing director of RoadSafetyUAE, told Khaleej Times on Monday, August 25, at the start of academic year 2025-2026: “It’s great that there are more school buses on the roads because they’re taking a lot of private cars off the road.”

Thomas Edelmann

He added: “We have been lobbying for a long time to subsidise school bus transportation. It would be amazing for authorities to help school bus operators offset many of the operational expenses by giving out incentives with the intent to lower the cost for parents.”

Utilisation rate

Edelmann also took note of the utilisation rate or efficient use of available buses. He explained, based on the figures shared by DTC, the utilisation went up from 25 students per school bus (24,000 ÷ 950) in 2023 to about 35 students (40,000 ÷ 1,150) this year.

“This means there’s a lot of push by stakeholders, including schools and parents, to utilise the school buses more,” Edelmann explained, noting: “This is great for the operators because this means they can spread their operating costs over a wider base. If the school bus utilisation goes up, the cost of the operator goes down, and this benefit can be forwarded in the form of savings to parents.”

Edelmann added school buses not only offer parents a safer, more convenient, and cost-effective option for their children. He also took note of a previous study by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), saying that 85 per cent of the students who travelled by school buses were happier compared to their peers who used other means of transport.

Emirati road safety expert Dr Mustafa Aldah, for his part, underlined: “It is very beneficial that school bus use is going up, because it is estimated every large bus can take 40 cars off the school route – roughly speaking. So, imagine 50 more buses are equivalent to 2,000 fewer cars on a particular school route, freeing up the roads and reducing emissions.”

Aldah, who is also founder of MA-Traffic Consulting, also said the use of school comes at a cost of longer commute for students – so a balance balance needs to be struck.

Dr Mustafa Aldah

“One school was talking about a way to bring together parents from the same school who live in the same area to start a carpool. Maybe this will help as well. There are many ideas, and we need to test them out and see what works best,” he added.

Smart features

DTC earlier said their school buses are equipped with smart features, including surveillance camera that are used to ensure that no student is left behind at the end of each journey, as well as a system to detect student movement in transit, and an emergency alert system for making immediate contact with the emergency management centre.

Buses are also outfitted with advanced electronic tracking system using GPS technology and a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) system to streamline the boarding and disembarkation of students as well as an automatic fire-suppression system for engines.

DTC also recently enhanced its fleet and services for People of Determination, in collaboration with Emirates School Establishment, to increase the number of users in public schools.

Meanwhile, transport operator STS Group announced they partnered with GEMS Education to operate a fleet of all-electric and biofuel-powered buses to serve students at GEMS School of Research and Innovation (SRI) in Dubai Sports City. This will help reduce private car journeys by up to 30 per cent and carbon emissions by approximately 1.2 kilograms per student, STS noted.

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