Students from the Zhongguancun No 1 Primary School take school bus to school. [China Daily]

Parents have expressed dismay after learning that very few school buses used by Beijing students have been licensed for the work they do.

The revelation came to light as the clock ticks down to the implementation of the city's first set of standards governing school bus safety, which are set to come into effect on July 1.

Zhang Jie, owner of a school bus operating company established in 1998, told METRO almost all school bus companies in Haidian district have not been granted a school bus license, with the exception being the High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China.

Beijing municipal government mandates that companies with school bus licenses are the only ones allowed to run such businesses.

Zhang said there are 10 school bus operating companies in Haidian district with more than 300 buses that are used by up to 5,000 students. The pupils range in age from first-year primary students to scholars in the last year of middle school.

He said more than half of the buses used in the Haidian district are not even fitted with safety belts.

"Even if a bus does have safety belts, students rarely buckle-up," he said.

Adding to concerns are claims that many school buses are old and in poor repair and driven by drivers with less than three years behind the wheel who are not qualified to drive school buses.

The General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and the Quarantine and the Standardization Administration of China jointly issued the first ever standards for school bus safety on February 18 and will begin enforcement on July 1.

The new standards call for all school buses to be fitted with seatbelts and a "black box" to preserve data related to driving speed, time and distance.

The new rules also require an adult to be on the bus in addition to the driver to supervise the students. If more than 40 children are aboard, two adults will be needed.

Despite the publication of the new rules, parents still have concerns.

A mother, surnamed Cao, whose daughter is a second grader at Zhongguancun No 1 Primary School, said her child's ride to the classroom is one of her big worries.

She follows the school bus in a taxi each morning to make sure her daughter arrives safely.

"The bus is very full and I don't see seatbelts, so I am very worried about the safety of my girl," she said. "I am planning to do this for at least two weeks."

Cao has signed a contract with a school bus operating company and pays 400 yuan a month for the service.

She suggested schools or the government should take over school bus operations from private companies to better ensure students' safety.

Most school buses in Beijing are not operated by schools or educational authorities but by private companies.

"We are only in charge of students' safety on the school grounds," said a staff member from the administrative office at Zhongguancun No. 1 Primary School.

"We don't have the human resources and money to take care of their safety on the way to school."

(China Daily March 3, 2010)