For over a year, a private bus operator has been allowing school students in uniforms to travel in his buses for ₹5 regardless of the distance.
Vijay Bus operator, which runs buses in three routes – S9, S1 and 1C – started this initiative on July 29, 2018, according to V. Jagades Chandran, the firm’s proprietor. “We wanted to do something for children, that’s why we came up with this initiative,” he told The Hindu.
Over 100 school students travel in these three buses every day, paying only ₹5 for the tickets, Mr. Chandran said.
He added that the bus travel will be free of cost for college students, who have lost their parents, till they complete the course. He also recalled about a woman, who travelled for free in the bus for a period of one year till she finished her graduation.
“Many school students tend to prefer our buses more,” Mr. Chandran claimed, when asked about school students in uniforms being allowed for free in government buses.
With this initiative being in place for over a year, Mr. Chandran said he was satisfied with the response from the school students. “We are doing this as a service,” he said.
Mr. Chandran noted that similar initiatives could be implemented in other private buses to help more school students across the city.
B. Kavya, a Class XI student from a private school in Peelamedu, said that she has been paying only ₹5 from Peelamedu till Lakshmi Mills.
“They always charge ₹5 anywhere,” she said, recalling that she was charged the same when she travelled to Gandhipuram once.
