Previous Story
29 school buses, 10 vans ready for class opening
PSS to retire some buses by end of next school year
The Public School System plans to retire some of its school buses by the end of next school year but it still has enough buses to transport all students when school year 2014-2015 starts in three months, according to Glenn Muña, PSS associate commissioner for administrative services, on Friday.
Muña also told Saipan Tribune that PSS is busy with a series of trainings and activities to prepare for the opening of classes in September.
Currently, Muña said, PSS has 29 school buses and 10 special vans on Saipan, Tinian, and Rota.
On Saipan, 15 66-seater buses and seven vans are fully functional and in good condition. On Tinian, two buses and one van are ready, while Rota has two buses and two vans.
According to him, PSS has a bus on Rota and Tinian that is currently under repair and would be up and running before the Sept. 3 class opening.
Saipan Tribune learned that PSS has 20 bus drivers on Saipan, three on Tinian, and four on Rota.
Muna said the current bus fleet is enough to transport students for the upcoming school year.
“However, due to the wear and tear and the lifespan of buses, we will be needing to retire some buses by the end of next school year,” he added.
Muña said that PSS has been providing its drivers with professional development training, including defensive driving, transporting students with special needs, and first aid/CPR, to name a few.
He said the lack of funds to procure new buses and other related expenses are some of the challenges for the upcoming school year.
Muña disclosed that PSS is no longer a recipient of the Federal Transit Administration grant.
For years, the FTA grant helped PSS purchase new buses and vans for its students. The Commonwealth Office of Transportation Authority is now the authorized recipient of FTA grants for the CNMI.
“The FTA funding that we used to receive also assisted our department in maintaining our bus fleet through preventive maintenance. Since the loss of the federal funding, we are challenged to find additional funding to purchase buses that will be retiring at the end of next school year, providing preventive maintenance for our buses, purchasing additional vans for our schools and for transporting our students,” he said.
Saipan Tribune learned that PSS had been directly applying and receiving FTA grants since the 1990s with an average of $1.1 million each fiscal year.
