Families in Qatar hiring limousines to ferry their children to school
Families in cash-rich Qatar are hiring limousines to ferry their children to school and back home.
The new social trend coincided with the start of the new academic year on Sunday and was adopted by parents wary of dug-up roads, traffic snarl-ups and a time-consuming school transport, Qatari media said, quoting officials from Karwa Limousine Services.
The company said that it added by 50 seven-seat limousines to its fleet to meet growing demand for its services.
For families that can afford to spend more, limousines were seen as a safer, more reliable and less time-consuming for their children.
Their argument is that limousines, despite their onerous costs, can take their children to school safely and on time and bring them back home without going all around the city.
School buses take a longer time both ways since they have to pick up and drop children from different areas. The situation is compounded for schools buses by excavated roads and the resulting traffic diversions and traffic jams during peak hours, Qatari daily The Peninsula reported on Wednesday.
Several families depend on private transporters who drive children to school and back home in their cars. However, relying on such operators has its own risks.
On Sunday, when schools reopened, the call centre of Karwa Limousine Services received calls from parents who said they needed their services urgently to take their children to school and bring them back.
The families booked limousines on a long-term basis and the company had to reschedule the duty timings of its drivers in line with school timings.
