MTC Unable To Ensure Safe Transport For Students

Buses with doors have brought down the number of fatalities, claim officials

- R. Sivaraman , R. Srikanth

In a city where the MTC is the major public transport provider for school students, often the ride is neither pleasurable nor safe.

Not entirely due to the buses or services, but also because of the need for youngsters to exhibit their bravado and style.

Daily thousands of school and college students travel from their homes to their educational institutions in buses packed with officegoers.

The buses are so crowded with passengers that a majority of the boys take to footboard travel thinking of ‘escaping’ from the jam-packed buses but in reality exposing themselves to a dangerous ride.

There are innumerable instances when students have been chided by the driver and conductor for riding footboard in practically empty buses too.

Several fatalities

Several incidents of students travelling on footboard having lost their lives and limbs have been recorded in the city, with the Madras High Court even urging the transport corporation to fix doors in buses to prevent such mishaps. M. Subramani, a resident of MKB Nagar, said the problem of students hanging on footboard in buses has been there for several years in north Chennai because of parents’ poor economic background and their inability to afford private transport facility to their children. The students have to get to their institutions on time, and if there are only limited services, they are forced to board even very crowded buses, he argued.