‘Student special’ buses do vanishing act

[1]

Travelling in crowded buses and jostling for space has become a daily and unavoidable ordeal for 3.5 lakh students in Chennai and its suburbs.

The “student specials” operated by city transport provider MTC for the last two years seems to have gone on an extended holiday even though the schools have reopened after summer vacation.

Though only 50 “student specials” were being operated on selected routes in the mornings and evenings, it was beneficial to several hundred students who could not afford private vehicles or school vans.

On Tuesday evening, M. Udhya Kumar, a student of Kendra Vidyalaya who was waiting at Pallavan house bus stop, said he was worried about carrying his project model made of thermocol safely in a crowded MTC bus.

“Last year, the Metro Transport Corporation operated a students’ special ‘38 C’ bus on this route which enabled us to trouble without hassle. It is not to be seen this year,” said Kumar who travels daily from Triplicane.

Despite the chief minister setting a precedent and taking personal interest in school students and
directing officials to expedite the issue of free bus passes for them, MTC officials seem to have conveniently forgot the plight of students, complained Mr Ravi Kumar from Ayanavaram, whose son goes to school in Purasawalkam.

“Though my kid faces hardships while travelling in a crowded MTC bus where most passengers see school children as an inconvenience, financial constraint doesn’t permit me to arrange a private vehicle for him,” he said.

“The special buses were certainly a huge relief as students were able to travel comfortably whenever they were fortunate enough to catch them,” he added.

When contacted, senior MTC officials maintained that the special buses were being operated this year.