Chandigarh: Safe school bus made ‘unaffordable’

CHANDIGARH: Children must take overloaded bus, maxi cab, or auto-rickshaw to school because the official transport is costlier and unpunctual. Yes, the safe transport policy for school students (Straps) considers it dangerous.
Asked in a TOI reality check why they put the lives of their children at risk, parents said it is because the schools charge higher for transport and drop children home late. The team found crowded buses and auto-rickshaws spilling out of schools every day. Even the traffic cops posted en route let these buses pass. The school buses often miss their designated stop and drop children in the middle of traffic, in the presence of their parents.

Some of the parents said they had observed the doors of many school buses to be open, which is a serious offence under Straps. The bus ladies, they say, don’t do their job of helping children board and alight. Sarabjit Kaur, Class X student of a private school in Sector 32, said: “The packed bus cabin becomes stuffy and suffocating in summer and monsoon season. Even opening the windows doesn’t help.”
Purnima Singh, a Class IX student living in Zirakpur travels almost 10 kilometres to her school in Chandigarh. She says, “For almost 5 km, three of us friends share a seat meant for two, which is uncomfortable, in summer even more so.” One of the parents said: “We have no option but to put our ward in an overcrowded auto-rickshaw, as it is the only affordable option we have.”
Bharti Verma of Sector 50, Chandigarh, said: “There is only one bus to cover the route to my locality that doesn’t have many children from my daughter’s school. So, if we have to send her to school, this is the only bus we get. It is uncomfortable, but then, there’s nothing we can do about it.” A parent whose child goes to a school in Sector 26 says: “I have always observed the bus doors to be ajar. I know it is unsafe. The woman conductor hardly gets down to help the children hop on an hop off the bus. The bus starts even when children have only one foot inside its door, while it should start after children are seated.”
Bigger buses adjust children next to the driver. There is no belt for that seat. Many schools do have a bus app to give parents live feed from the on-board CCTV camera but they are not sure if the device works. The vehicles are fitted with global positioning system (GPS) but some schools are yet to give the parents access to the bus-tracker service on mobile phone. A parent whose child goes to a school in Sector 49 said: “We are happy with the bus service but my only concern is that the vehicle has no GPS.”
A parent whose child goes to a school in Sector 41 said: “The bus crew is okay but we have to fight with the contractor to see that our children are dropped at the designated stop close to their house. Another issue is that the transporter keeps increasing his fee without replacing the rickety buses that stall midway and offer children a leaking roof in monsoon.”