Thousands of students living in Ho Chi Minh City suburbs will not haveshuttle buses to access school on January 1 as operators of bustransport companies have decided to suspend services.
The operators said the city's subsidy was too low to maintainservices, adding businesses had faced losses because of higher fuelprices.
During a recent meeting of the managementboard of Thanh Son Transport and Tourism Cooperative, which hasresponsibility to pick up students at 40 schools in the city's outlyingdistricts, Pham Thi Thanh, head of the cooperative, said subsidycontracts for 2013 had not been signed, and little money was available.
Thanh was quoted by Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer)Newspaper as saying that the subsidy rate her cooperative received fromthe city for 2013 was much lower than previous years. If the cooperativemaintains operations, it would suffer huge losses, she said.
The meeting was held to hear the opinions of the cooperative's membersto see if they should suspend operations and wait for the Centre forPublic Transport Management to sign a contract for new year.
The cooperative will not receive the August and September 2013 subsidies until January.
"The subsidy is too low while the cooperative has to cover severaltypes of fees such as tolls. Almost all cooperative members agreed tosuspend operations. If the shuttle buses maintain operations, we have tocharge fees from the students' parents," Thanh said.
Beside the low subsidy, the centre has issued several regulations thatcreate difficulties for cooperative members, such as the penalty of500,000 VND (24 USD) for buses without GPS gadgets.
Without sufficient number of buses, the cooperative will be fined 400,000 VND (19 USD), and other penalties could occur.
In early December, the Joint Venture of Thanh Long TransportCooperative and Phuoc Dat Transport Company, which is in charge oftransport students from more than 100 schools in the city, alsorequested that cooperative members stop operating their buses fromJanuary 1.
Tran Van Thuan, who has four 35-seatbuses that transport students of Hoc Mon District's Xuan Thoi ThuongPrimary School and Cu Chi District's Hoa Phu and Trung An PrimarySchools, told the newspaper that all of his four buses would stopworking soon.
"I will have a big loss if I keepoperating my buses. In 2012, when the subsidy was higher, I receivedabout 22 million VND (1,047 USD) monthly for each bus, and I receivedprofits of 10 million VND (476 USD). Now that the subsidy rate hasshrunk to one third, I get 7 million VND (333 USD) for each bus.Excluding fuel and other fees, I don't have enough money to pay drivers'wages," Thuan said.
Nguyen Van Tuan, owner of fourbuses, said he had asked buses for students at Pham Van Sang High Schoolin Hoc Mon to suspend operation. The other buses will also stop runningsoon, he added.
Tuan complained that he had tospend 15 million VND (714 USD) for his two 50-seat buses, while hereceived only 13 million VND (619 USD) as subsidy.
In previous years, the two buses received over 40 million VND (1,904 USD) monthly.-VNA
The operators said the city's subsidy was too low to maintainservices, adding businesses had faced losses because of higher fuelprices.
During a recent meeting of the managementboard of Thanh Son Transport and Tourism Cooperative, which hasresponsibility to pick up students at 40 schools in the city's outlyingdistricts, Pham Thi Thanh, head of the cooperative, said subsidycontracts for 2013 had not been signed, and little money was available.
Thanh was quoted by Nguoi Lao Dong (Labourer)Newspaper as saying that the subsidy rate her cooperative received fromthe city for 2013 was much lower than previous years. If the cooperativemaintains operations, it would suffer huge losses, she said.
The meeting was held to hear the opinions of the cooperative's membersto see if they should suspend operations and wait for the Centre forPublic Transport Management to sign a contract for new year.
The cooperative will not receive the August and September 2013 subsidies until January.
"The subsidy is too low while the cooperative has to cover severaltypes of fees such as tolls. Almost all cooperative members agreed tosuspend operations. If the shuttle buses maintain operations, we have tocharge fees from the students' parents," Thanh said.
Beside the low subsidy, the centre has issued several regulations thatcreate difficulties for cooperative members, such as the penalty of500,000 VND (24 USD) for buses without GPS gadgets.
Without sufficient number of buses, the cooperative will be fined 400,000 VND (19 USD), and other penalties could occur.
In early December, the Joint Venture of Thanh Long TransportCooperative and Phuoc Dat Transport Company, which is in charge oftransport students from more than 100 schools in the city, alsorequested that cooperative members stop operating their buses fromJanuary 1.
Tran Van Thuan, who has four 35-seatbuses that transport students of Hoc Mon District's Xuan Thoi ThuongPrimary School and Cu Chi District's Hoa Phu and Trung An PrimarySchools, told the newspaper that all of his four buses would stopworking soon.
"I will have a big loss if I keepoperating my buses. In 2012, when the subsidy was higher, I receivedabout 22 million VND (1,047 USD) monthly for each bus, and I receivedprofits of 10 million VND (476 USD). Now that the subsidy rate hasshrunk to one third, I get 7 million VND (333 USD) for each bus.Excluding fuel and other fees, I don't have enough money to pay drivers'wages," Thuan said.
Nguyen Van Tuan, owner of fourbuses, said he had asked buses for students at Pham Van Sang High Schoolin Hoc Mon to suspend operation. The other buses will also stop runningsoon, he added.
Tuan complained that he had tospend 15 million VND (714 USD) for his two 50-seat buses, while hereceived only 13 million VND (619 USD) as subsidy.
In previous years, the two buses received over 40 million VND (1,904 USD) monthly.-VNA
