SCHOOL bus drivers are worried as the closure of schools until January 2021 will kill their sole source income.

These drivers, who depend completely on pupils to earn are living, are disappointed that the government has not taken their plight into consideration by providing financial assistance.

A driver from Balik Pulau, Penang, Rafaie Osman said his income took a major hit as very few pupils are taking the bus since schools reopened in July.

The 46-year-old driver said the number of pupils using his service declined from 150 to 90.

“The number of pupils has been declining. There are some who were scared to take the bus and so their parents would send them to school. The ones that are still taking the bus, sometimes they pay, sometimes they don’t. My income fell by 50%-60% compared to last year.

“Most of my passengers come from low-income families, they live in flats hence their parents are affected by Covid-19.

“I don’t have the heart to force them to pay,” he told The Malaysian Insight.

Rafaie said school bus drivers are hoping for special assistance from the government because of the loss of income for a month.

“We don’t know how the schooling session is going to be next year. That is what we are worried about.

“We can’t request for tourist bus permits, it will be pointless because there are no tourists now,” he said.

“At the start of the movement-control order (MCO), bus drivers were received a one-off aid of RM600, we are hoping for that kind of assistance.”

He added that these drivers also have commitments such as house, car and children to support.

EPF withdrawal

Sanif Ahmad from Kuala Kedah said drivers were able to breathe a sigh of relief when schools reopened in July and they had hoped they would remain open until December.

“However now, our income will be affected until January 2021. Everyone is in need of financial aid.

“Not only bank loans, we also have debts with mechanics for servicing costs,” he said.

Sanif is relying on his four married children to get by as he lives with his wife.

“My commitments are not much but I need money to maintain the bus. We were unable to move for three months and had no income, and it will be hard to go through the same until next year.”

Last week, Education Minister Mohd Radzi Md Jidin said all schools and institutions of higher learning under the Education Ministry will be closed for the rest of the year and will only reopen on January 20 after the latest conditional MCO.

Although schools in Perlis, Pahang, Kelantan and Sarawak are not placed under the CMCO, they will be closed in the effort to break the Covid-19 chain.

Schools are expected to facilitate home-based or online learning to replace classroom study.

Another driver, Abdul Halim Hussein from Langkawi, said he had to sell his bus in May for RM20,000 as he could no longer afford the operation cost.

He couldn’t afford to service his loan obligations although there was a moratorium in effect.

“My commitments are less now because I don’t have to pay the bank,” he said.

He urged the government to help affected bus drivers like him, who were forced to sell their buses to survive.

“Financial assistance is very much needed. Before, we won’t have income during school holidays but we used to get temporary permits to carry tourists.

“Now that is no longer the option, there are many bus drivers who have become fishermen, lorry drivers and doing odd jobs.”

He used to earn about RM5,000 monthly but now he could only make RM1,000 through odd jobs.

“It is enough as long as we can pay for our house and utilities. For now, I don’t know if I will be able to drive a school bus again. We have to wait till Covid-19 abates.”

Last week, a group of school bus drivers from Klang Valley urged the government to allow them to allow withdrawals from the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Account 1 on top of the i-Lestari EPF scheme which allows contributors to withdraw up to RM500 a month from their Account 2 for a year.

While Budget 2021, which was tabled last Friday, did not make any specific allocation for school bus drivers, it allowed EPF contributors to make withdrawals of RM500 per month from their Account 1.

This can be done for up to 12 months or RM6,000 in total.

Ahead of the announcement, calls were made for the government to allow a lump sum withdrawal of up to RM10,000 to benefit lower-income groups. – November 12, 2020.