RTO staff check buses ahead of reopening of schools

Team headed by Collector examines 225 vehicles in north, northwest region

A fortnight ahead of school reopening, Collector V. Anbu Selvan, along with Regional Transport Officers, on Tuesday began checking safety features of school buses.

On the first day, a school bus inspection committee headed by the Collector inspected about 225 buses in the city’s north and north west regions.

An RTO official said the inspection process involved checking the emergency exit doors, speed governors that are compulsory to prevent rash driving and window grills.

Also, the team checked the painting of common yellow colour, display of school bus symbol, provision of racks for keeping school bags under the seats and installation of first aid boxes and fire extinguishers. The buses would have to meet the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicles (Regulation and Control of School Buses), Special Rules 2012, they added.

Driving licences

The officials also checked the driving licences of the drivers to ensure that they fulfilled the minimum five years experience.

Applications for 10 private school buses were rejected, an RTO official said.

On Wednesday, the team would be checking 56 buses from the Central region at MCC School in Chetpet and 139 private buses from the western region at Nandanam Arts College.

On Thursday and Friday, the team will check over 200 buses.