Students have suffered abuse, denial of seats, among other issues, on private buses to attend schools and colleges.
In a bid to ensure that private bus operators are better-behaved with students, the Alappuzha district administration has decided to introduce star rating for bus employees.
“We are committed to ensure a smooth ride for students on buses. Our aim is to make buses student-friendly. We will give star ratings to bus employees based on their conduct with students,” said District Collector Adeela Abdulla here on Thursday.
The initiative will be implemented with the support of the Motor Vehicles Department (MVD). As part of it, officials of the MVD will collect opinions from students before rating bus employees.
“At present, star rating is given to almost all services and products. In this case, the students will rate the employees of the bus they travel to school and back home. We will collate the opinions and issue a final rating to each employee. This will help us to identify the errant bus employees. Those found ill-mannered will be provided classes on how to behave with students. Stringent action will be taken against repeat offenders. By giving star rating, we hope, the attitude of the bus operators towards students will change and help to create a cordial atmosphere between students and employees. The initiative will be rolled out after Onam holidays,” said, Shibu K. Itty, Regional Transport Officer, Alappuzha.
Mr. Itty said that the project would be implemented first on a pilot basis in Alappuzha town. “We will extend it to the rest of the district in the following months,” he said. The move follows several complaints from students against bus operators. “To ensure the success of the project, the MVD will review the rating given to bus employees every three months. A mechanism involving various student organisations will also be introduced for hassle-free collection of opinions from students,” an official added.
Cooperation
According to officials, the bus operators have promised to cooperate with the initiative.