Mumbai: Bus drivers unhappy with postponing school timings

School bus drivers have strongly opposed the government's decision of starting schools from Pre-Primary to Class IV post 9:00 am. Bus drivers have raised the question of how to get the students to school on time, avoiding the traffic jam between 8 am and 9 am in the city. Also, the number of buses will have to be increased along with the number of manpower for the two sessions in the morning, pre-primary to fourth and fifth to tenth. As a result, the bus drivers have expressed the opinion that the parents along with the bus drivers will have to bear the financial burden.

Most of the morning session schools in Mumbai open between 7 am and 7.30 am. Accordingly all the buses and women assistants and other helpers in the buses would have been arranged. But now the government has ordered that the schools from pre-primary to fourth will start after 9 am. 

Citizens of Mumbai go to work between 8 and 9 in the morning. Therefore, there is a large amount of traffic on various roads in the city. There are traffic jams in some places. In this, the bus drivers are wondering how to get the buses carrying students from pre-primary to 4th to the school through the 9 am traffic jam. The school bus drivers are demanding a positive change in this decision.


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A letter has been given to the education department and the concerned ministers regarding the decision to start the schools from pre-primary to fourth grade after 9:00 am. But no positive response has been received. Now the schools are on vacation, but when the school starts from June, the question is how to plan the time and arrange the buses. It is necessary to think about how to manage the buses in two sessions. As a result there will be more demand for buses. 

“If this is not resolved, the fare of buses will have to be increased by 30 percent. After this price increase, the financial stress on the parents will also increase. Due to this, bus drivers, parents and teachers will also have to change their planning," said Anil Garg, President of School and Company Bus Owners Association.