Recently, the death of two students from Delhi University’s Bhagini Nivedita College on their way to class, has once again put the spotlight on commuting woes of students from city colleges. Many students often complain about the lack of proper commuting facilities in the capital but the government and college authorities still haven’t figured out a concrete solution for this problem.
Trishala Shandilya, a student of Jesus and Mary College, feels that it is unsafe for girls to travel alone in a city bus due to eve-teasing. She says, “If I am travelling with a bunch of friends it is still fine, but otherwise I would never step in a DTC bus alone. First of all it is too crowded, secondly rowdy elements try to misbehave. There are a few University special buses that ply between nearest bus stop to the campus, but they are irregular and crowded most of the time. Now that most of us have started taking Metro, I think the college should provide shuttle service from nearest Metro station to the campus.”
While students at North campus and a few city-colleges have University special bus services or the Metro to depend on, students from far off places often face problems in reaching their college on time. Nishank Trivedi, a B.Com Hons student at KMC says, “I live in Gurgaon and I have to reach college by nine every morning. I usually take the Metro but it is so crowded because it is the same time when office goers also commute. Everyday it takes me at least an hour to reach college and so many times I get late for my class.”
Sinta Sunny, a second year DU student, thinks that even though there are a few buses that were introduced on the college routes, they are always full of people and hardly used by students. She says, “Mostly buses are irregular, and there is no use waiting as they are usually crowded. The autowallahs too act pricey and refuse to go by the meter.”
Ajit Sharma, a final year student at Hansraj College, opines, “It is very difficult for college students to take public transport everyday and reach college on time. I think there should be a separate paid bus facility for college students like some of the private colleges already have.”