Saudi Gazette report

JEDDAH — Minister of Transport and Logistics Saleh Al-Jasser approved the regulations to operate international bus transport services. According to the regulations, at least five buses are required for any transport company or establishment to operate national services.

Minister of Transport Al-Jasser has authorized the chairman of the Transport General Authority to adopt the mechanism for implementing the new regulations, as well as to issue decisions and circulars according to the data and the market needs.

This aims to regulate the activity of transporting passengers by buses between the destinations within the Kingdom and outside in a way improving the level of transport services, preserving the rights of the parties involved in the transport operation, creating a suitable environment for investment, and raise operating efficiency in order to achieve the highest safety standards and requirements, according to the official Umm Al-Qura newspaper. The regulation stipulates that fines will be slapped on those who violate any provisions of this regulation or the regulations of the Public Transport Law while using the roads.

It also specified the financial resources to be allocated to the General Transport Authority from amounts collected in terms of issuing or renewing public transport operation licenses, operating cards, driver’s licenses, or any other services provided by the authority.

Article four of the regulation spells out the conditions for the company or establishment to obtain a license to practice public transport activity. This includes submitting an application from the establishment through the authorized channels of the authority; a valid commercial register for the establishment that includes transporting passengers by buses outside the Kingdom; a valid insurance certificate; valid zakat and income certificate if the firm passed more than a year since its commercial registration; and availability of the establishment’s main center in the city subject to the license in accordance with the approved municipal and technical requirements or the requirements issued by the relevant competent authorities; and making available of no less than five buses for practicing the public transport activity at the national level.

All these are in accordance with the specifications and technical regulations approved by the authority president. The regulations also include that the operating buses shall be owned by the firm directly or through financing lease contracts and that the firm would be the actual user of the bus, and is linked to the electronic systems of the authority that it determines.

The terms of the license also include the necessity of paying fines and other financial obligations in addition to fulfilling all the conditions and requirements for issuing the license within a maximum period of 90 days from the date of submitting the application. In the event of failure of meeting the deadline, the application is considered null and void, it was stated in the regulation.