The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : What stops schools from plying their own buses or vans?

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 17, 2006

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

What stops schools from plying their own buses or vans?

Staff Reporter

Some say there is no demand; others feel that it is not economical to do so

DEDICATED SERVICES: Children are safer if schools run their own buses. — PHOTO: K. Pichumani

CHENNAI : Parents and school heads often cite inadequate public transport as the reason for opting for alternative modes of transport. But if schools feel reliable and sufficient public transport is lacking, what stops them from plying their own buses or vans?

Some schools say there is no demand; some others feel it is not economical. Parents, however, think the existing system could be made more efficient.

P.S. Senior Secondary School, for instance, has two buses and a van to help students commute. But Principal Vijayalakshmi Srivatsan says there are no plans to ply more buses.

"Most of our students live in and around Mylapore. "Parents drop their children on their way to work and some students use bicycles or come by auto rickshaws. I don't think we would have takers if we introduce additional buses," she says.

"At DAV we have a tie up with reliable operators. We have about five buses transporting children. We have maintained this arrangement for the past 27 years and it has worked well for us," says C. Satish, principal, DAV Boys Senior Secondary School (Gopalapuram). Since are enough school vans, children do not have to depend on public transport, he adds.

However, there are parents who believe that the ride back home in the school van or bus drains their child's energy. "By the time they drop everyone else and come to our area it is two hours past the closing time," says a parent.

Moreover, in many schools, children of lower classes are made to wait till classes get over for students of higher classes, as buses are allotted area-wise. Children going to the same area are taken in one bus. There is also the problem of overcrowded school buses. "My son is in UKG. Sometimes, he comes home standing as his van is packed," says a parent. Parents feel plying sufficient school buses or vans in an area-specific, class-wise system would help.

Systematic bus schedule

Activists feel Parent Teacher Associations could help parents and school authorities chalk out a systematic bus schedule, which would ensure the children's safe journey back home.

"School authorities could talk to parents and find out what the demand is. They could consider additional buses if there are enough takers," suggests a parent. The public transport provider, MTC, should be part of the plan for moving children from home to school and back.

Once all sides agree that enough students and parents are prepared to pay for dedicated bus services from various neighbourhoods, MTC could allot sufficient number of services.

Sunil Kumar, Joint Commissioner of Police, Traffic has been stressing that parents, school authorities and operators have a collective responsibility in ensuring road safety for school students. "Only if there is cooperation from all sides, can we bring down the number of accidents," he told The Hindu .

There is also the question of economy of operations. Many parents feel that schools may not be prepared to run their own buses as each vehicle costs nearly Rs.10 lakh. Besides, it would also entail expenditure such as spend on maintenance, crew salary, fuel, besides insurance.

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