Delhi schools, students in a jam as state-owned bus fleet is withdrawn

Costs rise for all sides as state govt is forced to look at options providing a safe, economical transport option

After the Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) discontinued all its 579 buses from school duty, a crucial public need is in a fix. DTC stopped lending its buses to schools at the start of this academic year (in April), saying it needed to serve daily commuters. In the absence of a state-bus fleet, private vans and buses haven’t proved to be a safe and reliable alternative for Delhi schools.

The DTC charged schools per kilometre for its service. Private schools like Gyan Bharati (GBS) in south Delhi’s Saket paid between Rs 46,000 and Rs 55,000 per bus monthly. For students, the monthly fee came to Rs 1,200. GBS, which has some 2,000 students, now employs 16 buses from a private vendor for Rs 75,000 and Rs 55,000 monthly, depending on seat capacity. An individual student’s monthly bus fee has increased to Rs 2,200.

Approximately 500 GBS students use the buses, and a similar number use 55 private vans. The rest use the Delhi Metro and private vehicles. Students from places near the school--Hauz Rani, Malviya Nagar, and Khirki Extension—pay Rs 500 to Rs 600 monthly for private vans. In more affluent areas of South Delhi, such as CR Park, Vasant Kunj, and Hauz Khas, parents pay as much as Rs 1,500 for SUVs that take children to school.

DTC buses were seen as economical and more compliant with the Supreme Court's guidelines for school transport, found a study HumanQind, a non-profit for urban planning and design, conducted in association with DAV school in Vasant Kunj. In that school, 25 per cent of students used DTC buses. When the buses were withdrawn, 32 per cent of parents chose to drop their children themselves at school.

The study found that 50 per cent of parents said they would prefer schools shift learning online in absence of DTC buses. Only a small portion of parents actually preferred private vans as an alternate means of transport.

Worrisome alternatives

Lata Vaidyanathan, the director of GBS, said that many private schools, including hers, maintain records of van drivers. “However, it’s impossible to keep track of the student’s safety once the vans are off school premises. The school does not have the power to regulate the street fitness of either the vans or the drivers. In buses, however, we make sure at least one of our teaching staff accompanies the students to the very last stoppage and then heads home,” she said.

Private buses aren’t very safe either. A former teacher from a South Delhi private school, and the parent of two middle-school-going children, who did not wish to be named, said, “Schools take great risk in delegating one of their teachers to overlook the security of their children. Once the bus is empty and a female teacher is waiting to be dropped off at their destination, she’s at risk too. Private bus contractors are just not as answerable or responsible as the government-operated DTC staffs were.”

Dr Geetam Tiwari, professor in Transportation Research and Injury Prevention Centre at IIT-Delhi, said, “In the absence of government-provided buses, schools are forced to contract buses from private operators. This leads to higher costs because private [bus] operators would like to maximise profits. Moreover, safety standards, quality of drivers and conductors are also compromised.”

The HumanQind study at DAV also pointed out that the low-floor DTC buses were more accessible to students with disabilities.

Policy chasm

DTC refused to respond to Business Standard’s questions, citing the recent dismissal by the Delhi High Court of a petition filed against its fleet withdrawal. The Delhi government’s affidavit had said, “That the respondent (Delhi government) was providing buses for school duty to 70 schools and the total number of buses, which were deputed on school bus duty on any given day, were 579 in number. Thus, on average, on any day on which buses were provided on school duty, almost 69,480 to 81,060 passengers were affected and faced a delay in their daily commute.” The High Court agreed with the government’s argument that this was a policy decision that did not require any interference.

“School timings and office timings are staggered in Delhi. School timings coincide with low commuter demand (early morning and midday) therefore public buses can be utilised for school operations,” Tiwari said.

Buses and the Delhi Metro aren’t always a solve-all fix either. Delhi’s streets and alleys are too narrow and congested for school buses, so parents have depended on private vans for a long time. Earlier, the government required owners to register new and dedicated vehicles for school transport. Now, it is contemplating allowing the registration of old vehicles as school cabs if they meet the required parameters.

“Regulatory measures do exist, but compliance is weak. It’s difficult to monitor school vans which are run by private operators.  Moreover, buses remain the most reliable and safe transport for children. Most countries offer student concessions or free school transport to ensure safe affordable transport for school children. The government can at least increase the bus fleet to meet the transportation needs of students. Ensuring safe school transport should be the government's responsibility,” Tiwari said.