According to the parents, the fees for school buses are fixed regardless of the distance between the school and the house whereas van and rickshaw charges are based on distance.

Mumbai: While the School Bus Owners’ Association (SBOA) maintains that private vans ferrying school kids in the city lack necessary permissions and are unsafe, many parents, who avail of their services, prefer them since they are cheaper.  

According to SBOA, the private vans carry students more than their in-built capacity and it could lead to accidents. Vishakha Patwardhan (36) a home maker from Bandra, told The Asian Age, “The van in which we are sending our both kids is being given by the school reference, the buses have approximately Rs 1800 fees which is high and we cannot afford it, so we prefer van.”

Another parent Sapna Joshi (40) said, “The vans enters the small by lanes of the colonies where the big buses cannot go. The fact that they drop off children on the door step is a major plus point.”

According to the parents, the fees for school buses are fixed regardless of the distance between the school and the house whereas van and rickshaw charges are based on distance.