Mumbai: Gokhale bridge closure plagues school buses, 'no relief in sight'

MUMBAI: School bus operators on Monday said that the problem of buses getting stuck in jams continued daily due to Gokhale bridge's closure in Andheri (West) and there was no relief in sight.
As a small measure, some of the schools in Andheri are now leaving students around 15 minutes early in the evening so that it covers up the delay due to traffic snarl-ups, they said.
"But this too does not provide the much needed relief," said School Bus Owners Association president Anil Garg. He said that bus operators had requested school authorities to change the timings for the convenience of students. "While few schools have done this and are also lenient about children arriving late due to traffic snarl-ups, the scene on the ground is totally chaotic. There are perennial jams on the diverted routes due to bridge closure and our drivers are complaining daily about problems manoeuvering buses through crowded lanes," he pointed out.
Some schools have maintained the regular time table. At Chatrabhuj Narsee Memorial School, local traffic police have been stationed to help the three schools that operate from the campus run on time.
"We follow a shift system. Which means students from pre-primary come in at a specific time and so is the case across classes. And now, after almost three years of Covid we have an annual day and a sports day and hence there are many activities in the school timetable. We would not like to cut down on any activities as students are going to have annual day and sports day in physical mode after two years and we do not wish to take that joy away from them. It does get dark early right now, and kids are returning home later than normal because of the traffic snarls but they are very excited about participating in extracurricular sessions. So we have little choice and cannot leave them early," said Kavita Sanghvi, principal of CNM School.
Meanwhile, the RTO has taken cognisance of complaints from T2 airport passengers who are unable to get a prepaid taxi to Andheri West after the bridge closure. A source from RTO said, "We conducted three surveys of taxis plying from T2 airport to Andheri (West) and have found that the diversion is around 2km extra journey. We will check the prepaid fares and revise it accordingly by factoring in the extra 2 km (diversion) journey. Once the prepaid fares are revised, there should be no problem for taximen ferrying passengers to Andheri West." Sources said that the revised prepaid fare could be announced this week.
A bus transporter complained that there have been few cases of buses halting at regular stops on main roads being challaned for "obstructing the flow of traffic".