Why are many school buses still not painted yellow?
According to the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety, from January 1, 2025, commercial vehicles transporting preschool children and students must be painted dark yellow. However, although the decree has been in effect for nearly half a month, many bus companies have yet to implement it.
Slow implementation
Green Tue Duc Primary and Secondary School (Vinh City) is one of the schools with the largest number of shuttle buses in the province with 11 buses. These are all school buses contracted with transport companies. The school's students, in addition to the majority coming from Vinh City, also have quite a few students coming from districts such as Dien Chau, Hung Nguyen, Nam Dan, Nghi Loc.
In recent years, to ensure the safety of students during transportation, the school has had many strict regulations from picking up and dropping off students, signing for delivery and receipt, and checking after students get off the bus. In addition, the buses are also required to have a shuttle sign on both sides of the vehicle, and have teachers accompanying them during the process of picking up students.
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However, the regulation that the vehicle body must be painted yellow (according to Decree No. 151/2024/ND-CP of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Road Traffic Order and Safety) has not yet been implemented.
I think this regulation is necessary and has received the consensus of parents because if the school buses are painted in the same color, it will be easier to recognize them, making it easier to travel on the road. Before that, as soon as the draft of the law was available, we worked with the bus companies before signing the contract and included the commitment. We asked the bus companies to ensure the color of the vehicle, warning devices, age of use, and ensure the route... However, due to the tight time frame, the buses have not yet implemented it.
Mr. Le Van Duc - Chairman of the Board of Directors and Principal of Green Tue Duc Primary and Secondary School
At Nghi Loc 2 High School, there are currently 7 buses picking up and dropping off students every day. Despite the large number, up to now, the buses have not been painted yellow as required. These are all buses that parents directly contract with transport businesses. The bus pick-up and drop-off is spontaneous.
Or in Vinh city, some kindergartens are currently using buses to pick up and drop off students, but the painting of the buses as required by Decree No. 151 has not yet been implemented.
Article 30, Decree No. 151/2024/ND-CP dated November 15, 2024 of the Government detailing a number of articles and measures to implement the Law on Road Traffic Safety states: Vehicles used for transporting preschool children and students as prescribed in Point a, Clause 1, Article 46 of the Law on Road Traffic Safety must be painted dark yellow on the outside of the vehicle; the front and two sides of the vehicle above the windows must have signs identifying them as vehicles specifically used to transport preschool children and students. This regulation contributes to standardizing school bus services, preventing traffic accidents and unfortunate incidents on school buses. The Decree takes effect from January 1, 2025.
Difficult to synchronize
In the whole province, there are currently about 100 buses to pick up and drop off students in districts such as Nam Dan, Hoang Mai town, Thai Hoa town, Nghi Loc, Hung Nguyen, Tan Ky, Anh Son, Dien Chau, Yen Thanh, Do Luong and Vinh city. Of which, Vinh city has more than 30 buses, the remaining districts have from 2 to 10 buses each.
Explaining why the car has not been painted according to Decree 151, Mr. Tran Nhat Tan - Bong Sen transport company said: When the contractshuttle busWith Green Tue Duc Primary and Secondary School, we have strictly implemented the regulations that we have signed a commitment to. However, with the new regulations under Decree 151, there are still many difficulties because the preparation time is very urgent (from the time of issuing the document to the time of implementation is only more than 2 weeks), businesses need time to prepare.
Another difficulty is that repainting a car can cost tens of millions of dong. Changing the paint color will increase costs, putting pressure on both schools and parents.
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Due to their own characteristics, only a few private schools use school buses. The rest, a small number of schools are contracting with businesses in the form of transport business contracts. In addition, there are quite a few vehicles that parents contract with bus companies in a spontaneous form.
Mr. Dinh Quang Trung - owner of Ha Phuc bus company said: Currently, we only have contracts with schools to pick up and drop off students for 9 months. In the remaining months, we serve many different groups. If we paint yellow, it will cause difficulties for the unit when signing contracts.
Due to the nature of our school, many students live 10-15km away from school, so many parents have proactively contracted with bus companies to pick up and drop off their children to school. The current problem is that in addition to the contract to pick up and drop off students (according to fixed time frames), the buses also contract to pick up and drop off many other groups, so the bus companies also consider carefully when implementing uniform yellow paint.
Teacher Dang Quoc Chi - Vice Principal of Nghi Loc 2 High School
Due to many problems, although the regulations have not been implemented yet, representatives of many schools still request that the authorities create favorable conditions and give more time for transport businesses to have a roadmap to implement according to the regulations.
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Faced with the above reality, on January 8, 2025, the Department of Transport sent a document to the Department of Education and Training, People's Committees of districts, towns and cities on implementing regulations to ensure traffic safety for cars carrying preschool children and students.
Accordingly, localities are required to direct educational institutions and transport units that use cars to pick up and drop off students to comply with general regulations on ensuring order and safety on road traffic.
On the part of the car owner in the transport business, ensure the requirements such as the vehicle must be installed with a journey monitoring device, a device to record the driver's image, the business unit must sign a written contract with the transport hirer. In particular, the car transporting students must have appropriate seat belts, the vehicle must be painted dark yellow on the outside of the body; the front and both sides of the car above the windows must have signs to identify it as a special-purpose vehicle...
