School transport shifts gear,moves to customised vans

Regional Transport Officer (RTO) Arun Yeola,Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Vishwas Pandhare were among others present.

Features like speed governors,safety grills on windows,red-yellow colour coding,fire extinguishers and first-aid kits have been added to the Omni and Eeco models. Speed governors will prevent accelerators from being pushed beyond 40 km per hour as it is the limit for school vehicles,as per regulations.

Rohit Goel,regional manager,Maruti Suzuki,said,“All these vehicles will be yellow in colour with a red band on it. Stickers with the words ‘SCHOOL BUS’ will be there on each vehicle sold to school bus drivers. All this is as per prescribed norms. As of now we will have one dealership point with Mahalaxmi Automotives in Model Colony. They have received a very good response from parents,schools and customers. Compared to cities like Mumbai where buses and autorickshaws are used for school transport,such vehicles will be very relevant for smaller cities.”

Yeola said,“With 6,000 schools in the city and lakhs of students,a safe mode of transportation has been a concern for long. This initiative by Maruti Suzuki is a socially responsible move by the company. Buyers can get several concessions that are given for vehicles ferrying schoolchildren. We charge only Rs 100 per seat as motor vehicle tax for school vehicles as per the new regulations. It is almost a 90 per cent tax exemption.”

In June,both the models were approved by the State Transport department,as a safer means of transport compared to the autorickshaws.