While I understand that these are daily wage workers, these are some of the points I strongly disagree with:-
Quote:
Originally Posted by TusharK
[1]Increase the age limit of school buses from 8 years to 20 years in Mumbai and other areas of Maharashtra from 15 years to 20 years
[2]Experience of 5years to drive school bus to be abolished if driver has bus badge or heavy passenger vehicle driving licence.
[3]Subsidized fuel rates for school buses like BEST & MSRTC
[4]Harassment by traffic cops to school buses during drop and pickup of students
[5]Banning of illegal private vans plying as school buses
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Here are my reasons why:
1) I've seen many school buses which are within eight years of use that are
in a pathetic condition. We know how prompt these guys are when it comes to maintaining their busses. I remember a story of my friend's school back in the day where kids we're going to a picnic in their school bus which included a 5 hours long school bus journey. The bus ended up breaking down in some remote location, leaving all the kids stranded. While this was not only a big red flag showcasing neglect of bus maintenance but also a big safety hazard for the kids on board since it became dark as early hours of evening approached. Prove that you can maintain your busses in the short run only after which older busses will be allowed to operate.
2) Clearly, this rule was made
considering the safety of the young population that rides the school bus. The number of accidents would have been much higher with more school children casualties had more inexperienced drivers been allowed to drive a school bus. Besides, we know how rash these guys drive anyway.
3) What's next? Subsidised fuel rates for public cabs and rickshaws as well? Why not? After all, even they are daily wage workers. If this goes through,
expect more public transport unions to start protesting for the same privilege.
4) Correction! Drop and pick up should strictly be drop and pick up. Not those 10 minutes wasted blocking the road every morning, waiting below the house of every single child to pick them up. Staying close to a school I approve of this. A hoard of yellow busses block the road causing a traffic jam, increasing other commuters time in the morning by a good 15 minutes! BTW, Their double parking skills are amazing
.
Cops don't just harass them, they harass everyone, but sometimes they also prevent us from being harassed by them.
5) Excuse me? That's like one poor guy cutting the stomach of another poor guy. All private vans that are not painted yellow are illegal for them. Look, I know school bus providers are going into a financial crisis, so are the private school tempo providers, yes they use their vehicles for school use and the other times as uber. Why not? As long as they get a tourist license and plate, they are allowed by all means to be used as public transport. IMO, years ago, I remember my parents always choose to send me by private school tempo as a kid. Why? They were
more convenient, more comfortable, gave special attention to occupants, provided faster travel thanks to being smaller allowing to pass through traffic easily and were more lax when it came to pick up timings giving a little longer buffer in case a child became late. If the parents think they provide a better deal by providing more safety and convenience to their child, then who are they to stop them. I'll send my child by whatever vehicle I feel comfortable with. After all, no one is giving gratis service, and I am paying money either way for both. Besides, what if I plan to send my car with my kid, who carpools it with his school friends. Is that illegal for them?
All in all, the Govt should provide some support to them by all means, everyone works to feed their family and times like these bring a lot of hardship, we have to help each other especially the poverty struck, but not to an extent where they sit on everyone's head. And I'm not even going to touch on the exorbitant inflation of fees being charged by them to parents in the recent days, and the fact that they are still taking money even when schools are closed and children are at home.