Rustam Minnikhanov criticizes the work of agencies responsible for information on tracking the location of school busses

On December 14, at Tatarstan Cabinet of Ministers, at a meeting on improving road safety Minister of Internal Affairs of the republic Artem Khokhorin said that every day Tatarstan faces a problem with tracking the location of every tenth school bus and its compliance with speed limits.

"For control of speed limits and routes school busses have been connected to the GLONASS system. However, every tenth bus is not reachable for the monitoring system,” he reported.

“The Ministry of Education of the republic and municipalities are well equipped to receive information on school buses online, but no response has followed,” the Minister noted.

According to him, the main causes of the violations are faulty navigational equipment or untimely payment for communication service. “The issue was raised a year ago, but no stable signal was provided, and the issue of paying for the trackers has not been resolved in full. We do not have proper regulations how to act,” he explained.

The report made Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov indignant. He interrupted the reporter, calling the situation “a mess”. He then lashed out on Tatarstan Minister of Communication Minister and Education, and called for prosecutors and treasury officials getting involved in the matter.

“How can buses not be controlled? I was sure each bus was under control. If there is a bus and it is not under control, it cannot make a trip. Nobody informed me,” he told the ministers present.

The local budget does allocate funds for operation of school buses, Minnikhanov went on to note.

Tatarstan Minister of Education and Science Engel Fattakhov said buses in 26 of the 45 municipalities are serviced by specialized firms that have agreements with third parties servicing trackers. Several municipal regions replaced those with specialized auto transport firms. “This, we think, should improve the situation,” he added.

Tatarstan Minister of Information Technology and Communication Roman Shaikhutdinov welcomed the idea to make auto transport operators responsible for the buses movement, suggesting the practice is applied to each municipality.