Work permit costs hike school transport fees

School transport fees are predicted to rise in Riyadh with the beginning of the new academic year. Rate increases range between 30 to 60 percent due to the high costs of foreign labor work permits. Permits cost up to SR 2,400 a year. Companies in this sector are suffering due to the implementation of nationalization regulations which aim to employ more Saudis, while there are no trained Saudi drivers available, a local daily reported. Nasser Abdullah Abu Sarhad, director-general of one of the major foundations in the field of school transport, said, “Any increase in transport fees, especially in relation to government contracts, are added to contracts with the government.” “The increase in work permit fees and the implementation of the Nitaqat program, which has resulted in increased costs, all are added to the value of contracts signed with the government. The state will compensate the increase by raising the value of the contract,” he was quoted as saying. He said the bus rental rate in the past was SR300 and currently stands at SR500 per day, but that the government will pay the difference. Mohammed Al-Yami, the owner of an institution for school transport, said it used to cost SR1,500 a year to transport a female teacher from Riyadh to a nearby province. This increased to SR2,500 with the commencement of the school year, an increase of more than 60 percent. As an additional requirement, there should be no less than six female teachers on the bus. “The transport sector is no longer attractive work due to the intervention of foreign workers in this field. We put prices for the provinces outside Riyadh at SR2,500 and were surprised to find that one of the workers set his price at SR1,500 for the same distance. He is not even authorized to provide this service,” Al-Yami said. He proposed the establishment of an office in the Ministry of Transport specialized in the transportation of female teachers at licensed institutions for the provision of transport services to schools and universities to protect this sector and its employees and to provide better services for teachers and students. Abdullah Al-Mutairi, one of the owners of the institutions of school transport said, “There is a change in the price of the student transportation fee. Within the city of Riyadh the fee has risen from SR150 to SR200, an increase of more than 30 percent.” He said that despite offering salaries ranging from SR1,100 to SR2,000, there is a shortage of foreign drivers. He also said Saudi drivers do not accept a salary of SR4,000. More than 70 percent of expatriate drivers do not have licenses, said Al-Mutairi, and provide transportation services at lower prices than licensed institutions. Arab News