New Parking Policy Problem!
Parents in a tight spot over hike in school bus fees!
The new parking law has not only made life wretched for motorists and two-wheeler riders due to exorbitant penalties, but even the school parents are in a tight spot as the School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) has announced a hike in school bus fees from August 1, 2019.
According to reports, the new parking law prohibits school buses being parked illegally on city roads. Hence, BEST and BMC have charted out a plan to rent the parking space for school buses at multiple BEST bus depots across the city. In return, BEST would be charging a parking fee between Rs 2,000/- to Rs 3,800/- per month from the school bus owners. The school bus owners are thus forced to increase bus fares to compensate for the additional overhead cost incurred due to parking charges.
In a bid to control the traffic menace in the city and make the city free from the menace of illegal parking of school buses and tourist buses that unnecessarily occupy major part of the city roads, the BMC and BEST have mutually decided to lend 27 BEST depots across the city to school buses and tourist buses for parking. From Thursday, August 1, 2019, several school buses and tourist buses have started parking in the bus depots.
Mumbai North East Vidyarthi Vahatuk Sena President, Kailash Joshi, applauded the BMC’s move to decongest Mumbai from the traffic menace and providing school and tourist buses parking at BEST depots. However, concerned at the hike in bus fees, Kailash Joshi said, “An additional Rs 100 or Rs 200 hike in school bus fees would be affordable, but a drastic rise may disturb the monthly budget of many parents. This would even pose troublesome to students if parents stop ferrying their students in schools buses due to the burden of a hike in bus fees.”
Hence, to seek a solution and eliminate the hike in bus fees, Kailash Joshi informed, “The School Bus Owners Association has even written a letter to BMC demanding that the school authorities permit school buses to be parked inside the school compounds. This would automatically resolve the bus fee hike issue.”
Kailash Joshi asserted, “The decision of providing parking space at BEST depots is laudable, but I think even the RTO must act tough against the school bus owners as they neither pay taxes nor have insurance of the vehicles. RTO should block such school buses and penalize them with hefty fines. They must learn a lesson and abide by the laws of traffic.”
