Amman, March 17 (Petra) -- The cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Jafar Hassan, approved on Tuesday the commencement of the first phase of a school transportation project in partnership with the private sector, marking the first initiative of its kind in the kingdom.

The project is designed to significantly impact students and the educational process by addressing transportation challenges. It aims to provide an integrated school transport system for public school students at no cost.

The initial phase will be implemented in the Southern Badia regions, covering 60 schools across the governorates of Karak, Tafila, Ma’an, and Aqaba. The government plans to expand the service gradually to cover all governorates, with a particular focus on the Central and Northern Badia regions.

Implementation is scheduled to begin at the start of the next academic year in August 2026. Spanning two years, the first phase is expected to serve approximately 8,000 students in the Southern Badia.

This stage will involve operating 120 modern buses equipped with monitoring systems, tracking devices, and cameras. These units will be linked to an electronic application, allowing parents to track their children during their commute to and from school.

The first phase of the project is expected to create 220 jobs for drivers, technicians, and maintenance workers, who will receive specialized training tailored to the requirements of the project.

The agreement for the first phase is set to be signed in the second half of April, with a cost of approximately JD1.32 million funded by the treasury. A consortium of Singaporean, Chinese, and local companies will supply the buses and execute the project. These firms possess previous experience in the sector, having implemented similar projects in countries such as Qatar and Oman.

The school transport project aligns with government efforts to develop a modern transportation system in the capital and governorates by expanding regular transport projects and the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system.

In a related development, the government is preparing to launch the second phase of the inter-governorate transport project in mid-June following the success of its first stage. This expansion will add seven new routes to enhance connectivity between Amman and the governorates using 180 buses equipped with smart transport systems, providing a daily capacity of 13,500 passengers.

The new routes for the inter-governorate project include lines connecting Amman to Tafila, Ma’an, and Ajloun, as well as Irbid to Zarqa, Zarqa to Mafraq, Jerash to Irbid, and Jerash to Mafraq.

These measures come amid the ongoing expansion of BRT routes within the capital and between Amman and other governorates. The total number of BRT network users has exceeded 64 million since operations began in 2021, with more than 24 million passengers recorded during 2025 alone.

Last year, the government inaugurated two new BRT routes connecting the capital to Madaba governorate and Al-Balqa Applied University. These join three existing routes linking Amman to Zarqa and four routes operating within the capital city.

//Petra// AF