School Bus Operators in Mumbai Announce 15% Fee Hike From This Academic Year

Mumbai: After pursuing with the state govt past one week and failing to get a resolution to their demands, the School Bus Owners’ Association (SBOA) issued a media statement on Wednesday evening that it will increase school bus fees by 15% from this academic year. TOI first reported that school bus fee will go up 15% from June.This revision is not solely due to the recent diesel and fuel price hike. It has other factors such as labour and bus crew salaries, vehicle maintenance expenses, cost of spare parts and consumables, etc, said association members.SBOA president Anil Garg said that bus owners are wary of repeated incremental revisions if diesel prices keep climbing. “We are against incremental hikes which may keep rising as diesel rates increase. If the govt wants rates higher, it should announce one big hike so we can plan how to manage operational costs,” the operator said.He further said that the state has around 40,000 school buses consuming nearly 1.2 lakh litres of diesel daily when operations run at full scale, and so fuel cost burden is huge.