PRINCE.EDWARD.ISLAND (CBC) - Following the emergency move to pull badly corroded school buses off the roads last week, the P.E.I. government has announced new measures for school bus safety.

Education Minister Gerard Greenan announced the plan Thursday afternoon.

The measures include regulations to ensure buses in the active fleet are no more than 12 years old and a new preventative maintenance program.

Cabinet also approved the purchase of 33 new school buses for this September at a cost of $2.6 million. A capital purchase plan will be put in place to ensure the continued renewal of the fleet.

The purchase of the new buses means that come September, 57 of the province's complement of 320 school buses will be less than a year old. The province said 94 per cent of active buses will be no more than 10 years old.

"We are taking substantive action to immediately reduce the age of the fleet, to regulate the age of buses and to ensure that buses are appropriately replaced in the future," Greenan said in a news release.

The changes were prompted by inspections earlier this month that found severe corrosion in buses built before 1995.

An initial round of inspections saw 16 buses pulled off the road. Last Thursday and Friday, all school bus service was cancelled while the province inspected 76 pre-1995 model buses. Fifty-five of those buses were taken off the road before service resumed Monday.

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