KOLKATA: The demand for school buses and pool cars was very low on the first day of school reopening for primary and upper primary students. Most parents are trying to gauge the situation before sending their wards to schools by buses or pool cars.
Parents preferred taking their wards either by private cars or by cabs. “We are still not very confident to send our kids in pool cars. We don’t know whether the operators sanitize the vehicle or not. There is no SOP to follow for the operators of such vehicles,” said Supriyo Ghatak, who came to drop his daughter to Vidya Bharati School in his own car.
Sanghamitra Basu dropped her daughter, now in Class VI, by cab to Sarada Ashram School New Alipore. “I have booked her seat in a school bus, but I am still not very confident to send her in school buses,” she added.
Most CBSE and ICSE schools did not open the for the primary sections. “We don’t think many schools will suddenly open primary sections before the new session. So, currently, we are receiving booking calls from parents. We have assured them there will be enough vehicles to ferry their kids,” said Arupam Dutta, vice-president, West Bengal Pool Cars Operators Welfare Association.
“Classes V-IX and Class IX will require our services for another week-and-a-half before their final exams. Not many schools are opening classes I to IV yet. We will merge routes and use those cars which are already running to ferry students,” said Dutta
Himadri Ganguly, secretary, West Bengal Contract Carriage Operators Association, said, “We are hoping schools will swing back to normalcy in March end or early April. Before that we will run a skeleton service.”
Source: https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/few-takers-for-school-buses-and-pool-cars/articleshow/89627261.cms
