The South African Board of Jewish Education’s concern for the safety of its learners informed its decision to replace the bus fleet used for transporting learners of the King David schools in the Johannesburg area.

The old fleet was a mixture of makes and included one bus dating back to 1979, reports the board.

Although the buses had been well maintained by the organisation’s workshop, in Linksfield, near Germiston, Gauteng, it was decided to replace all the old buses with a new fleet, comprising eight 65-seater and five 33-seater buses.

The buses are used to transport learners to and from school, outings and sporting events. The buses service ten schools located on five campuses.

The new buses are based on Japanese commercial vehicles group Hino’s truck chassis. The 65-seater buses are fitted with Hino 500 series 1626 chassis and the 33-seater buses have Hino 300 series 915 chassis.
The bodies are made by Randfontein-based passenger bus manufacturer and tester Busmark 2000. The company also builds bus bodies for Hino and South African truck companies.

The standard specifications of these two bus types were adapted to suit the specific requirements of the King David schools and feature live tracking, fingerprint recognition and closed-circuit television cameras in each bus.

The King David schools transport department is headed by Henk du Preez, who leads 17 staff members, including 12 permanent drivers and workshop staff.

The safety of bus travel in South Africa has been under the spotlight recently because of a number of accidents.

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