Newsroom
A damning audit report has raised serious questions about the safety of school buses in Cyprus, revealing widespread failures in inspections and compliance with basic technical safety rules.
According to the Audit Service memorandum titled “Audit of the inspection and safety of school buses and compliance with technical inspection requirements,” 35% of school buses inspected at Public Technical Inspection Centers were found to be unsuitable for use.
Alarmingly, nearly one in five of those buses had recently passed inspection at private vehicle inspection centers (IKTEO), raising concerns about how consistent and reliable those checks really are.
Even more worrying, the report found that 53% of all school buses nationwide did not attend mandatory emergency technical inspections by the required deadline, despite clear instructions from the Ministry of Transport.
Of the buses that did show up for inspection, 14% were missing valid IKTEO certificates that should have been issued within the previous three months.
The audit also highlights a troubling safety issue: some buses that had already been declared unsuitable were still being used to transport students, without a valid certificate confirming they were safe to operate.
Compliance problems were recorded across all districts, with no province meeting full compliance standards.
Limassol recorded relatively higher attendance rates for inspections but also had the highest proportion of buses with outdated inspection certificates, at 22%. In Famagusta and Paphos, the figures stood at 19% and 13%, respectively.
When it came to failures at inspection, the picture was also concerning. Of the buses inspected, 76% in Famagusta were deemed unsuitable, although the number of vehicles checked there was small. In Larnaca and Paphos, failure rates reached 47%, while Limassol recorded 39%. Nicosia, which has the largest school bus fleet, showed a lower failure rate but also significantly fewer buses attending inspections compared to the size of the fleet.
The report further notes that required inspections were supposed to take place within three months before 25 August 2025. However, auditors found multiple cases where this rule was not followed, with some buses last inspected before the permitted timeframe.
The Audit Service concludes that the system shows serious gaps in enforcement and oversight, with inconsistent compliance and clear risks in the daily transport of schoolchildren across the island.
