The school bus fees in Mumbai is likely to go up by 5%, due to the increase in toll prices at five checkpoints across the city from October 1, the School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) said on Saturday.
The SBOA expressed its discontent on the increase in toll and has planned to protest against it after a meeting on Sunday. If the toll price is not reduced the association said that it will be have no choice but to increase the bus fees for the students.
As per sources quoted by Times Now, the order issued by the toll naka authorities said that the toll charge for the buses will be rising from Rs 130 to Rs 150. Hoping a change in the decision of toll hike the bus association is determined to protest against it.
The President of SBOA, Anil Garg said that the decision of toll hike will affect more than 3,500 students who travel on school buses that cross the toll points at Vashi, Thane, Airoli, Mulund and Dahisar. He also said that one of the reasons behind their protest is also the poor road conditions, which has an impact on damage of buses thereby increasing the maintenance costs.
Last year, the school bus operators in Mumbai announced that they will raise the charges for ferrying students by at least 20 per cent, as compared to rates before the COVID-19 pandemic. The association cited fuel price hike and other reasons behind the rise. The School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) office-bearer Ramesh Maniyan said that the bus charges for students will be increased by 20 per cent or even more, but will differ according to areas and schools.
He said that they were forced to increase school bus charges due to various reasons, like the fuel price hike, payment of salaries of drivers and other staff, increased bus cost, RTO fees, traffic fines and penalties paid in the last two years, when their operations were closed. Though the business was closed for two years due to the pandemic, the salaries of drivers and other staff, like cleaners and female attendants, went up, he pointed out.
Comments
0 comment