Thousands of parents are stressed out about their children's transportation problems going back and forth to school in Beijing because of a lack of well-organized school buses and massive traffic jams. A recent survey of 570 parents showed that 97.5 percent of them could make use of an official school bus.

Parents waiting anxiously for their children at the Zhongguancun No.1 Primary School early this month were asked to take part in the survey.

Another survey received similar feedback from parents whose children attend Zhongguancun No.3 Primary School.

Serious traffic jams occur almost everyday at about 8 am and 4:30 pm at the junction where the two schools are located, just off the north Fourth Ring Road.

Both schools are listed among the city's key schools. It is estimated that 1,300 motor vehicles line up in front of the two schools during rush hour everyday, four times more than the available parking spaces.

Chinese parents are always keen to get the best education they can for their children, with richer parents often selecting a better school without considering the cost.

More and more families are moving to the suburbs for more comfortable surroundings, but most of the best schools are in the urban and central areas.

This means children have to spend more time getting to and from school, on top of the time they spend in class and doing homework.

Some bus companies do the school run but they are largely inefficient and badly organized. Some are very expensive.

Wang Zhitian, from the Haidian transportation team which carried out the survey, said: "It's an urgent issue. Some 31 deputies to the Beijing Municipal People's Congress submitted proposals focusing on the introduction of school buses." Liu Yongtai, one of the deputies, proposed school buses should be operated by bus companies under the government's guidance.

"It's a rather complicated issue, involving collaboration between several departments," said Cao Meng, an official with the Beijing Municipal Committee for Education.

The local transportation safety authority, the education committee, the public security bureau and the municipal government are all responsible for the introduction of school buses, Cao said.

The four authorities last September made a preliminary agreement on a school bus plan, called "Sun and Rainbow" but this has not yet come to fruition.

Beijing has about 1.7 million primary and middle school students, with 20 per cent of them being frequent bus users - 340,000 children.

Other children are picked up everyday by their parents in cars while others live with relatives who live near the schools.

There are some buses which were set up to take children to school but most are badly organized with unsatisfactory service.

For example, 136 children were expected to squash into a 41-seat bus in Fengtai District last September, which shocked the public.

"The safety of the children tops any concerns in our 'Sun and Rainbow' plan," Cao said.

Fangcaodi Primary School in Chaoyang District was one of the first schools to use buses for its pupils; it actually bought some.

(China Daily March 17, 2005)