The School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) has said that it is being forced to increase the fees across all schools due to the rising costs and increase in illegal service providers eating into their cl
The School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) has said that it is being forced to increase the fees across all schools due to the rising costs and increase in illegal service providers eating into their clientele.
The bus owners have increased the fees by Rs 300 claiming that the step is being taken to draw the attention of the government towards their plight.
Speaking about the issue, Anil Garg, president of the SBOA, said that for the past couple of years they had been suffering owing to the discriminatory practices adopted by the state.
“The state has tried to tighten their hold over our association by making the School Bus Safety Rules more and more stringent but has done nothing to curb the flourishing illegal school bus services provided by private players,” said Mr Garg.
“As a result of this it is becoming more difficult for us to continue providing services at the earlier fees and hence, we decided to hike the fees by Rs 300 from the next academic year,” he further said.
Explaining his angst, Mr Garg said there was no control over private service providers, as a result of which they cram students into vehicles in excess of their normal capacity and provide services at a cheaper cost.
“We have to abide by seating norms and hence cannot take on more students than the seating capacity in each trip.
As we are unable to recover our costs we have no option but to pass it on to the students and their parents,” said Mr Garg.
He added that the Parents Teachers Associations of respective schools had been informed of the hike and SBOA was expecting a response soon.
Meanwhile, Mr Garg said that the fees for students going through toll nakas would be hiked by Rs 600 from the next academic year as the government had failed to exempt school buses from paying toll.
