On Thursday, the state transport department announced that it had started a campaign against negligent school bus and van drivers in Maharashtra and had already checked over 200 vehicles. The effort will go through the weekend even though more than a dozen operators have received notifications for breaking the law, an official said. A school bus caught fire in Andheri on June 16.

Despite the fact that there were no children in the car, the Regional Transport Office (RTO) later discovered it lacked the required yearly fitness certificate and wasn't "roadworthy." The transport department decided to conduct the drive this week as a result of this occurrence and a few other complaints, according to sources. Avinash Dhakne, the head of transportation, had been petitioned by the School Bus Owners' Association (SBOA) a few weeks prior, stressing the proliferation of "Illegal" school buses. Anil Garg, president of the SBOA, expressed concern over the safety of kids jammed inside illegally-operating vans without licences.

Parents applauded RTO's campaign against careless drivers but claimed several schools "washed their hands off" school buses by declining to accept accountability. My son rode the school bus before to the pandemic. I have been trying to contact the bus facility contractor all academic year, but to no avail. A parent whose child attends a Kandivli school and is in class 3 claimed that the school had wiped its hands of the situation. She had picked the school because of its bus system. She is seeking for a school van and currently drives her son to school.

Vans are more cost-effective than buses, according to a father whose daughter is attending a school in Vile Parle. I was making a monthly bus fare payment of Rs. 1,700. I purchased a van this year for Rs 700 per month. If schools do not take our concerns seriously, most issues go unresolved in the absence of a committed group of parents of school-age children, the parent claimed. While state board schools claim that most of their pupils reside within a 3-kilometre radius and either walk or take small vehicles to get to distant locations, international and top-tier private non-state schools have buses to bring students there.

A school in Borivli's principal claimed that they stopped using school buses a few years ago and invited parents to work with contractors instead. According to a representative from the office of the transport commissioner, RTO teams will now take action against school cars that lack fire fighting equipment, speed governors, or proper licences.