Aleksey Kostin, Acting Chairman of the Penza Oblast Government, handed over the keys to vehicles to representatives of educational institutions on Saturday, November 27, 2021.
The vehicles were purchased as part of the "School Bus" project.
"New buses are an integral element of improving the quality of education in our region," Aleksey Kostin said.
He recalled that the programme of updating school fleets is being implemented throughout the country on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.
"Thanks to this project, the border between the city and the countryside will increasingly erased, and rural children will have access to the same educational services that urban schoolchildren have," Aleksey Kostin added, explaining that more than 600 Penza Oblast children will soon get to their schools by comfortable modern transport.
Notably that the modernisation of school fleets is carried out in stages. 62 buses were purchased in 2019, and 50 buses in 2020. They were sent to 21 municipal districts and 2 state special correctional schools.
In 2021, the implementation of the programme has continued. Among the buses purchased with federal funds are 20 PAZ buses and 8 GAZ buses for 23 and 11 seats each, respectively. They are needed to replace the old ones, which have been used for more than 10 years.
To ensure safety, buses are equipped with an additional step at the front door and special devices that do not allow the bus to start moving when the doors are open and limit the speed to 60 km/h. In addition, there is an electric heating of the rear-view mirrors and a device for giving an audible signal when reversing. The buses are also equipped with a digital tachograph and a GLONASS/GPS navigation system.
The new transport will operate on school routes of Bashmakovsky, Belinsky, Bessonovsky, Kamensky, Kameshkirsky, Kuznetsky, Lopatinsky, Luninsky, Maloserdobinsky, Mokshansky, Narovchatsky, Neverskinsky, Sosnovoborsky, Tamalinsky, Kolyshleysky and Pachelmsky districts.
