Decree of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province

　　No. 208

　　The Measures of Guangdong Province for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of School Bus Safety adopted at the Forty-first Executive Meeting of the Twelfth Session of the People’s Government of Guangdong Province on January 19, 2015 are hereby promulgated, which shall become effective as of March 16, 2015.

　　                                              Governor 

　　Zhu Xiaodan

　　                                                 February 13, 2015

　　Measures of Guangdong Province for the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of School Bus Safety

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1

These Measures are formulated for the purposes of strengthening the administration of school bus safety, and ensuring the physical safety of those students and children who take the school bus, in accordance with such laws and regulations as the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Road Traffic Safety and the Regulations on the Administration of School Bus Safety and in light of the actual situation of this Province.

Article 2

These Measures shall apply to the administration activities of school bus safety in the administrative region of this Province.

For the purpose of these Measures, the term “school bus” means the passenger service vehicle with more than seven seats used for picking up and dropping off the pre-school children and students receiving the compulsory education at school after obtaining the license in accordance with theRegulations on the Administration of School Bus Safetyand the provisions of these Measures.

The school bus used for picking up and dropping off the pupils and children shall be the vehicles specially designed and manufactured in accordance with the national standards for special school buses.

Article 3 

The school bus shall conform to the general provisions of the Regulations on the Administration of School Bus Safety, Regulations of Guangdong Province on the Road Traffic Safetyand national Safety Specification for the Operation of Motor Vehicles involving the number of passengers limit, appearance identification, signal device, travel data recorder, tyre, vehicle body and safety protection device.

Article 4 

People’s governments at or above the county level shall formulate and adjust the setting-up plan for schools, safeguard the students’ enrollment in nearby schools or boarding schools, and reduce the risk of the students to and from the school.

People’s governments at or above the county level shall develop and improve the public transportation in urban and rural areas, and provide convenience for the students to and from the school by buses.

People’s governments at or above the county level shall take measures to ensure that students receiving compulsory education have access to the school bus service in the rural area where it is difficult to guarantee those students’ admission to the nearby school and the public transport fails to meet the needs of those students to and from the school.

Article 5

People’s governments at or above the county level shall undertake the overall responsibility for the administration of school bus safety in their respective administrative region, establish a coordinating mechanism for the administration of school bus safety, which consists of such departments as the education, public security, transportation, finance and work safety supervision, plan and coordinate major issues on the administration of school bus safety and properly carry out the work of school bus safety.

Relevant departments of the people’s governments at or above the county level shall effectively carry out the work of school bus safety in accordance with their respective functions and duties.

Article 6 

People’s governments at or above the county level shall, based on the distribution of schools, the number of students requiring school bus services and traffic conditions, formulate the school bus service program, which includes the traffic situation, the number of students to be served, the principles and objectives, the operating mode of school bus, safeguard measures and implementation procedures.

Article 7 

The people’s governments at the provincial, prefectural and county level shall establish a tertiary subsidy system for the school bus, setting up their respective financial subsidy system for school bus service in accordance with relevant national regulations, and implementing the policy of funding shared by the central and local financial budgets.

People’s governments at or above the county level shall give preferential tax treatment to the school bus service, and formulate the preferential measures on the road and bridge toll for school buses within the scope of its functions and powers.

The insurance entities shall implement the insurance clauses and rates approved or recorded by the insurance regulatory department regarding the compulsory traffic accident liability insurance for motor vehicles, the carrier’s liability insurance and passengers’ liability insurance, and shall give preferential rate to the school bus insurance if it can meet the preferential conditions of a floating rate. A green channel shall be established for the school bus insurance claim to improve the effectiveness and service level of school bus claim.

Article 8 

Where the schools provide the paid school bus service for students, they shall charge the fare in accordance with relevant provisions on service fee of the primary and secondary schools and kindergarten. Schools are encouraged to exempt the fare progressively where the conditions permit.

Schools in the rural area shall not charge students with the school bus fare at the compulsory educational stage.

School bus service providers shall carry out the corresponding price policy according to the nature of the service route.

Chapter IISchools and School Bus Service Providers

Article 9 

Schools may equip themselves with school buses. The school bus service can be provided by the road passenger transport operators, urban public transport enterprises, and the school bus operating units established by people’s governments at or above the county or the prefecture level in accordance with the law.

The owners of school buses to be registered in the traffic administration department of the public security organ shall be the schools or the school bus service providers.

Article 10 

It is encouraged to realize the specialization and intensification of school bus operation progressively in the places where the conditions permit, through such methods as the establishment of professional school bus operators or the purchase of school bus service by the government.

Article 11 

People’s governments at the county or at the prefectural level may formulate specific provisions for the establishment of school bus operating entities according to the Regulations on the Administration of School Bus Safety and the actual situation of the region and may organize the individual operators who obtained the permission of road passenger transport according to law to provide the measures of managing school bus services.

Article 12 

The administrative departments of education of the people’s governments at or above the county level shall organize schools to carry out the traffic safety education, and the traffic administration department of the public security organ shall cooperate with the administrative department of education in organizing schools to carry out the traffic safety education.

Schools shall carry out the traffic safety education to the faculty, students, the children and their guardians, and shall organize the emergency treatment exercises of school bus safety accidents regularly.

School bus service providers shall regularly organize school bus drivers and the staff responsible for caring the students and children on the school bus to learn the road traffic safety laws and regulations, conduct the training of emergency treatment and emergency rescue in fire prevention and traffic accidents, and coordinate with schools in carrying out the traffic safety education and emergency treatment exercises to students and young children taking the school bus.

Schools and school bus service providers shall have written records on the activities of traffic safety education, training and exercises. 

Article 13 

School buses shall be equipped with a travel data recorder with satellite positioning as stipulated. Schools and the school bus service providers shall establish a vehicle monitoring platform for the travel data recorder with satellite positioning, and conduct a real-time supervision for the school bus operation.

The key vehicle monitoring platform established by people’s governments at or above the prefectural level shall conduct integrated supervision over the operation of the school bus.

Chapter III School Bus Licenses

Article 14 

Schools or school bus service providers using school buses shall obtain the school bus license. When applying for the school bus license, they shall fill in the application form of school bus license, and submit the following materials to the administrative department of education of the people’s government at the county or prefectural level or above:

(1) Identity certificate of the school bus owner;

(2) Motor vehicle registration certificate and vehicle license;

(3) Conformity certificate of the school bus after going through the motor vehicle technical safety inspection;

(4) Driving license of the driver who has obtained the qualification of driving the school bus;

(5) The operation program of the school bus, including the traveling routes, opening hours and bus stops;

(6) The management system of school bus safety; and

(7) The voucher of motor vehicle carrier’s liability insurance.

School bus service providers shall also submit the lease contract of school bus and the liability statement of school bus safety management. The school bus service providers set up by the road passenger transport operators or urban public transport enterprises, shall further submit the operation license of road transport or bus routes.

Article 15 

The administrative department of education shall examine the application materials after receiving the application, and accept the application if the materials are complete and conform to the provisions. It shall, within three (3) working days from the date of acceptance, send the materials to traffic administration department of the public security organ and transportation department at the corresponding level respectively to solicit their opinions. It shall also send them to the urban road administration department at the corresponding level to solicit the opinions if the application involves urban roads.

The traffic administration department of the public security organ, transportation department and the urban road administration department shall make a reply to the administrative department of education within three (3) working days after receiving the materials for soliciting opinions.

If the school bus route goes beyond the boundary of the city and county where the administrative department of education is located, the administrative department of education who receives the application materials shall also solicit opinions from the administrative department of education of the people’s government concerned at the county or prefectural level.

Article 16 

The administrative department of education shall present their examination opinions within five (5) working days from the date of receiving the replies from the traffic administration department of the public security organ, transportation department and the urban road administration department, and report the examination opinions to the people’s government at the corresponding level.

The people’s government at the corresponding level shall make a decision to approve or disapprove within five (5) working days, or may entrust a designated administrative organ with making such a decision within five (5) working days and, if deciding to approve, issue a decision of administrative license to the applicant; or, if deciding not to approve, give the reasons therefor in writing and inform the applicant of the right to apply for the administrative reconsideration or to initiate the administrative action in accordance with the law.

Article 17 

The applicant, after obtaining the school bus license, shall apply to the traffic administration department of the public security organ at the same level for the school bus sign. The traffic administration department of the public security organ shall issue the sign within three (3) working days and endorse the motor vehicle driving license with the type of school bus and the number of passengers limit.

Article 18 

Where there is a change on the school bus routes, opening time, stops, the vehicle, the owners or the drivers, the applicant shall apply for the alteration of the school bus license in accordance with Articles 14-16 of these Measures, and obtain a new sign of school bus after the approval of the people’s government or the administrative organ entrusted that originally approved the application.

Article 19 

Where the school bus has met the scrapping standards or the vehicle is no longer used as a school bus, or the school bus license is revoked, withdrawn or cancelled, the school or school bus service provider shall return the sign of school bus within five (5) days to the traffic administration department of the public security organ that originally issued, and shall, of its own accord, dismantle the identification light of school bus and parking indication signs, and eliminate the appearance signs of the school bus within thirty (30) days.

Article 20

Where the school bus is not functioning properly under one of the following circumstances, the school or school bus service provider, after filing the record in the traffic administration department of the public security organ that issues the signs of school bus, can temporarily redeploy other school bus with the signs or the driver who has the driving license of school bus on the same day, and use the original school bus signs:

(1) The school bus is broken down or is under the maintenance;

(2) The school bus is under the technical safety inspection;

(3) The school bus is seized due to the traffic accidents or traffic violations; or

(4) The school bus driver fails to drive the bus due to the illness or other reasons.

The traffic administration department of the public security organ that issues the signs of school bus shall announce the methods of filing the record.

Article 21 

The school bus shall receive the technical safety inspection every six (6) months.

The technical safety inspection agency of motor vehicles shall provide such convenient conditions for the safety inspection of the school bus as the booking service and priority inspection, and inform the technical problems of vehicles at one time.

Article 22 

Where the school bus has passed the technical safety inspection and there is no change in the conditions for the school or school bus service providers to apply for the school bus license, the traffic administration department of the public security organ shall renew the signs of school bus directly.

Chapter IV School Bus Drivers

Article 23 

The school bus driver shall obtain the school bus driving permission in accordance with the Regulations on the Administration of School Bus Safety.

When applying the school bus driving permission, the motor vehicle driver shall apply to the traffic administration department of the public security organ at the county or prefectural level or above, and submit the following materials:

(1) Identity certificate of the applicant;

(2) Motor vehicle driving license; and

(3) Certificate of no criminal or drug-taking records provided by the public security organ at the county level where the applicant’s household registration is located; where the applicant’s household registration is located within this Province, the relevant certificates may be provided by the police station of the public security organ at the county level where the household registration is located.

(4) Certificate of physical conditions issued by the medical institution at the county level or the military hospital at the regimental level or above.

Article 24 

The traffic administration department of the public security organ shall complete the examination of the application materials within five (5) working days from the date of receipt. Where the application conforms to the required conditions, it shall endorse the applicant’s driving license with the school bus driving permission and the corresponding vehicles, and inform the administrative department of education; where the application fail to conform to the required conditions, it shall give reasons therefor in writing to the applicant.

Article 25 

The traffic administration department of the public security organ shall take measures to include the school bus driver whose driving license was not locally issued into its management and provide convenient services.

Article 26 

Where the school bus driver fails to meet the conditions stipulated in Article 23 of the Regulations on the Administration of School Bus Safety, the traffic administration department of the public security organ shall cancel the driver’s driving permission of the school bus, notify the driver to renew the motor vehicle driving license, and circulate a notice to the administrative department of education, the school and school bus service provider.

Where the motor vehicle driving license endorsed with the school bus driving permission is not taken back, the traffic administration department of the public security organ shall declare in public that the school bus driving permission is nullified.

Chapter V Traffic Safety of School Buses and Bus-taking Safety

Article 27 

It is the collective responsibility of the government, the school, the society and the family to safeguard the traffic safety of students to and from the school. All the parties concerned shall facilitate the passage of the school bus and assist to guarantee the safety of the school bus.

Article 28 

Driving routes of the school bus shall try to avoid the dangerous section of roads such as the sharp bends, steep slopes, cliffs and the road near the water. Where it is impossible to avoid such dangerous section of roads, the management and maintenance units of the road and traffic facilities shall set up the safety protection facilities, speed limits and warning signs in the above-mentioned dangerous section of roads according to the relevant standards.

Where the road by which the school bus goes fails to conform to the safe passage conditions or exists the potential traffic safety dangers, the local people’s government should organize the transportation administration department, the traffic administration department of the public security organ and the urban road administration department to improve the passage conditions and eliminate those potential safety dangers in a timely manner.

Article 29 

The administrative department of education of the people’s government at the county or prefectural level shall conduct statistics on the number of schools and kindergartens which have the demand of school bus services, and shall coordinate with the transportation administration department, the traffic administration department of the public security organ and urban road administration department to conduct the statistics and make plans on the number and setting of advance notice signs, signs of school bus stops and stop markings.

The management and maintenance units of the road or traffic facilities shall set up the advance notice signs and the signs of school bus stops, and mark the school bus stop markings according to the relevant standards.

The people’s government at or above the county level is responsible for the costs of the construction, renovation and daily maintenance of school bus stops.

Article 30 

The school bus shall not carry the persons exceeding the number of passengers limit, and is prohibited from overloading persons on any ground.

The school bus shall abide by national regulations on the speed limit of school buses, and shall not be speeding.

Article 31 

The school or school bus service provider shall be equipped with the staff responsible for caring the passengers on the bus who meets the following conditions:

(1) Reaching the statutory labor age and having the work capacity;

(2) Possessing the physical and mental health, with no diseases which may affect the caring of students and children such as communicable diseases, the epilepsy and psychosis;

(3) Having no criminal record or record of alcoholism or drug-taking; and

(4) Those with non-local household registration shall provide the local certificate of residence.

Article 32 

The school bus driver shall assist the staff responsible for caring the passengers in verifying the number of passengers on the bus, and may shut off the school bus doors and drive away only after confirming that all passengers are off the bus.

Article 33 

Before the departure, the school or school bus service provider shall appoint a person to inspect the bus, and shall stop the bus in a timely manner and not to release the bus, if the person discovers any one of the following circumstances:

(1) There is no staff responsible for caring the passengers on the bus;

(2) The driver is not in conformity with the driver stated in the school bus sign, except for the circumstances prescribed in Article 20 of these Measures;

(3) The driver is drunk or has a severe bodily discomfort that is not suitable for driving the school bus;

(4) Other circumstances that may impede the safe driving.

Before the departure, where the school bus carries students or children, the person shall also check if the number of passengers exceeds the prescribed limit. Where any overloading is discovered, the school bus shall not be released for departure.

Chapter VI Supervision and Inspection

Article 34

Such authorities as the administrative department of education, traffic administration department of the public security organ and transportation department shall strengthen the joint inspection of the school bus safety, and shall strengthen the supervision and administration of school buses according to their respective functions and duties and procedures. 

Article 35 

The administrative department of education of the people’s government, the traffic administration department of the public security organ, the transportation department and the administration department of work safety supervision at or above the county level shall establish and publicize the reporting network platform and reporting telephone numbers to facilitate the public to report the violations of school bus safety, and handle the reporting or transfer it to the department concerned within 10 days after its receipt.

Article 36 

The administrative department of education of the people’s government at or above the county level shall strengthen the supervision and regulation of the school bus safety, urge schools to properly conduct sourcing management of the school bus safety and potential hazards investigation, carry out the inspection on school safety education and emergency drills, and guide the schools to establishment a management system of school bus safety, contingency plans and ledger of safety management.

Article 37 

The traffic administration department of the public security organ at the county level shall establish a basic ledger of school bus safety management within its administrative region, summarize the information on school bus drivers’ traffic violations and accidents, circulate a notice to the schools, school bus service providers and the administrative department of education and propose the handling suggestions.

The schools or school bus service providers shall transfer to another post or dismiss the school bus drivers who have repeatedly committed traffic violations, have been reported or complained by the public or the students’ parents in a centralized manner, and who are proposed by the public security organ for handling.

Article 38

Where the traffic administration department of the public security organ investigates the violations of traffic safety by school buses and detains the vehicles according to law, it shall notify the schools or bus service providers concerned to transfer the students on the vehicles, and immediately return the vehicles detained after the status of violation is ended.

Article 39 

The traffic police may, except for the violations which prohibit from continuing to drive the school bus, release the school bus which violates the laws and regulations of road traffic safety temporarily on the premise of eliminating the illegal behaviors and, then impose punishment on the school bus driver after the school bus completes the assignment of picking up or dropping off the students.

Chapter VII Legal Liability

Article 40

Where the school or school bus service provider fails to equip with the staff caring the passengers on the bus in accordance with Paragraphs 1 and 4 of Article 31 of these Measures, the administrative department of human resources and social security shall impose the punishment in accordance with relevant laws and regulations.

Where the school or school bus service provider fails to equip with the staff caring the passengers on the bus in accordance with Paragraphs 2 and 3 of Article 31 of these Measures, the competent authority shall order them to make corrections and may impose a fine of 500 yuan.

Article 41

Where the school bus carries the passengers exceeding number of passengers limit, the traffic administration department of the public security organ shall detain the vehicles until the elimination of the illegal status, and impose the school or school bus service provider concerned a fine of 500 yuan. Where the bus exceeds 20% of the number of passengers limit, the department shall impose a fine of 2000 yuan.

Where the school bus driver violates provisions regarding the road passage under the laws and regulations of road traffic safety, the traffic administration department of the public security organ shall impose a heavier punishment according to law.

Article 42

Where any school or school bus service provider with the school bus license violates the provisions of these Measures and the circumstances are serious, the local people’s government or the administrative organ entrusted that approved the license may revoke the school bus license, and the traffic administration department of the public security organ shall take back the signs of the school bus.

Article 43 

Other violations of the Regulations on the Administration of School Bus Safety and these Measures shall be handled in accordance with such laws and regulations as the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Road Traffic Safety and the Regulations on the Management of School Bus Safety.

Chapter VIII Supplementary Provisions

Article 44 

The administration of school bus safety in the schools for the children of the citizens from the Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR and Chinese Taipei and the schools for children of foreigners shall be handled with reference to these Measures.

Article 45 

These Measures shall become effective as of March 16, 2015.

The non-specific school buses, which comply with Article 3 of these Measures and have obtained the signs of school bus for picking up and dropping off the students and children before the implementation of these Measures, may continue to be used as the school buses until December 31, 2016. When the prescribed period expires, the school bus licenses shall be cancelled and the signs of the school buses shall be taken back.