Mumbai: To meet their monthly expenses amid rising prices, several school bus operators in the city are demanding a 35-40% fee hike as schools in all likelihood are to resume this week. With increasing fuel prices, incurring losses in the pandemic, staff crunch, and a fall in the number of buses which has hit transport services in the city, operators say that their demand is reasonable.
The principal of a Vile Parle-based school said that buses at their institute are outsourced, and after communicating with the parents, they have mutually agreed to hike the school bus fee by 20%. The last hike was approved three years ago.
Rusit Patel, a member of the Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) of the same school said, “There was almost no resistance from the parents and the hike was due anyway. Those who could not afford the hike have switched to private van services, although that number is very small,” said Patel.
“School bus fees have been hiked by 30% in our schools and this has resulted in a dip of 10-12% of students travelling by buses,” said Rohan Bhat, chairperson, Children’s Academy Group of Schools. He also added that the number of students taking the bus is low as parents tend to see only what is affordable instead of considering the safety measures. “Private vans put students’ lives at risk as they are not verified by the police,” said Bhat.
School bus operators have pointed at basic operating costs, rise in fuel prices, a spike in the cost of new school buses, setting up of GPS tracking devices as per new transport rules as well as losses incurred during the pandemic on the hike in school bus fees.
“Before the pandemic, there were around 8,500 – 9,000 buses plying students in the city but due to a number of reasons, we have lost about 20% of the buses post-pandemic,” said Anil Garg, the president of the School Bus Owners Association (SBOA).
Most schools discussed the demand for fee hike by bus operators with their PTAs before approving the same. “We follow every instruction given by the government in terms of school bus facility. Our transport committee, which includes PTA members, has taken a mutual decision and we have agreed to hike the fees only after consulting parents,” said Fr Francis Swamy, principal of Campion School in Cooperage.
Some parent groups, however, are still unhappy with the schools’ decision to agree to a hike of nearly 40% in some cases. “Most schools have agreed to the demands of the bus operators and in some cases, parents have not been consulted. Some parents have shown concerns regarding the hike as many are still recovering from the financial crunch caused by the pandemic and inflation of the past two years. Out of choice, some have switched to private vans,” said Arundhati Chavan, president of the PTA United Forum.
In response to the shortage of school buses in the city at present, the SBOA has now approached the transport department for a temporary solution. “We have asked the transport department to allow staff buses along with existing school buses to ply school students. While school buses have a speed limit of 40 kmph, staff buses have a speed limit of 80 kmph, but we will ensure the drivers stick to the approved speed limit only. Adding staff buses will help us make up for the gap in school buses in the city at present,” added Garg. They are yet to receive any formal response from the government on this matter, he said.