School goers to suffer as bus fees to go up by 13% in Mumbai

With the hike in fuel prices, the School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) which runs over 8,000 buses in the city has announced that it would increase the bus fees for school students by around 13 per cent beginning from June 1 2018.

Anil Garg, the president of SBOA said, "With the increase in fuel prices, bus owners find it extremely difficult to continue providing the bus service in the same rates. Apart from the increased fuel prices, we also have to pay toll charges even while plying on internal roads. We have no option but to charge parents more to meet the increased costs". Garg said that the revised charges would be applicable from June 1, 2018.

With the new rates being introduced at the beginning of the academic year, they will pinch the pockets of parents. "It would really hit parents very hard as they would have to pay the school fees and the increased bus charges at the same time" said Arundhati Chavan, President of the PTA United Forum.

Garg said that the government has not given any attention to issues faced by bus owners in the last few years. "They should realise that if we continue bearing more and more costs, it is going to ultimately affect students and their parents" he added.