SRTS: BACK TO SQUARE ONE

SRTS: BACK TO SQUARE ONE
S Praveen Dhaneshkar
Choked roads as a result of vehicles parked around schools in the CBD (Central Business District) of the City reaching annoying proportions during mornings/evenings are a common sight today.

But it seems precious little is being done to sort the problem. While motorists fume at the lack of space on roads as a result of parked vehicles, the school managements refuse to allow them into their premises and police plead helpless.
This, in-spite of the ‘Safe Route to School’ (SRTS) initiative introduced more than two years ago by the Bangalore City Police and the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation to address the issue. The initiative received encouraging responses when first introduced as a alternative to private vehicles ferrying kids to school but it did not yield expected results further on.
Though about 50 educational institutions in Bangalore utilise the service of 245 BMTC buses under the SRTS initiative, many parents continue to prefer private transport such as cars, two-wheelers, tempo/maxi-cabs and auto-rickshaws to ferry their wards.
“It is an arduous task to relieve congestion around the schools’ vicinity and the responsibility also lies with the school authorities and parents. They could allow parking of vehicles into their premises or use BMTC buses but not many schools have the luxury of parking. Schools and BMTC should offer incentives to parents to switch over to public transport” adds K C Ramamurthy, Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic and Security).
Another police official says the education department must seriously consider issues of playgrounds and vehicle parking when permission is granted to start a school/college.
“The decision taken by the traffic police to convert both Residency Road and Richmond Road into one-ways has been a failure. What did the one-ways do? It increased the speed of moving traffic and pollution, causing great danger to school kids, wasting precious fuel and annoying everybody.
A vehicle from one point to another is on the street approximately for ten minutes because of one-way traffic” points out Prof M N Sreehari, a traffic and transportation engineer.
M A Saleem, Director (Security and Vigilance) KSRTC was earlier DCP Traffic (East), under whose tenure the SRTS was initiated. He says,
“The project to encourage use of BMTC buses by schools was successful with 207 of them taken by the institutions. Congested areas such as St Marks Road and Residency Road did see some relief. The only solution is to encourage travel by buses help the situation”



Safe Route To School
The ‘Safe Route To School’ initiative (SRTS) that was launched in February 2005 by the City traffic police in association with the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation aimed at decongesting traffic at peak hours in the vicinity of city schools. When introduced then, the police had banned parking within 200 mts at 16 English medium schools which braced the SRTS initiative in the CBD (Central Business District) of the city.
Police estimates put the figure of 3,000 cars and over 800 two-wheelers are on the roads every morning at the gates of schools in the CBD

Revenue model, a solution?
A former student of Bishop Cotton’s and secretary, Brigades Shops and Establishments Association, Suhail Yusuff suggests a solution to ease traffic in the vicinity of schools by advocating implementation of an automated ‘Smart Card’ system by schools across Bangalore to allow entry of vehicles of students into their premises with an added benefit of a revenue that could earn them Rs 30 lakh a year, which he says is too tempting to refuse. “This will reduce the number of vehicles parked on roads” he adds

How the ‘Smart Card’ works...
- The schools should provide an ‘Entry and Exit’ automated gate that works on a smart card which is sold only to the students who come in vehicles.
- Institutions should make it mandatory for the vehicles to drop students inside school premises.
- The entry gate of the school is automatic and opens when the smart card is swiped. The vehicle then enters in, drops the student and leaves by the exit gate, which opens on swiping the card again.
- The system records the time of vehicle entry and exit. The automated process does not allow vehicle to remain in school beyond the stipulated time of 1/2 or 1 hour.
- Exit gate blocks entry if vehicle remains beyond stipulated time. A fine of Rs 50 or 100 could be levied if vehicle violates rules.
- Smart Card could be issued at Rs 500 per month and allow 500 cars. Revenue to school could be Rs 2,50,000 per month and Rs 30 lakh per year.
- The system could be an answer to city’s traffic jams and reduce the traffic problem at the CBD (Central Business District) during peak hours.


SCHOOLS SPEAK

We are aware of traffic jams as a result of vehicles parked on roads around schools. One way of solving this is to encourage use of school buses and BMTC vehicles. At present we are not part of this initiative. But we are open to examining the possibility of hiring buses in future. As for allowing vehicles into our play ground, it is on a higher plane, making it impossible for vehicles to park. Another issue is managing entry of cars and two-wheelers”Sister Preeti, Principal,



This is a delicate issue with social implications. What is of paramount importance? Is it safety of the child at school or allowing parking into our premises.We had recommended a viable solution to reduce traffic to both the parents and police suggesting change of timings from 7.30 am to 2.00 pm. A survey was done at our school to seek a feedback from parents on this suggestion. We received a positive response from 70 percent of parents, while 30 percent were not in favour of it. Parents say they cannot be back at home from work if their kids arrived at 2.00 pm. This solution, if accepted could reduce the problem to a large extent. Better traffic management by the police, no-parking zones outside schools are other measures”

Colonel John Ellis, Principal,
Bishop Cotton Boys High School



Our school does not directly contribute to possible inconvenience caused by parking of vehicles outside our premises. We have six school buses, apart from another six hired from BMTC as part of the SRTS initiative. The onus also lies with the traffic police to strictly enforce the ‘No Parking’ zone of 200 mts from the school premises. We also encourage use of public transport and car pooling by parents. Allowing parking of vehicles inside our premises is ruled out. It would be a herculean task to monitor their movement inside.”

Ms Franklin, Principal,
Bishop Cotton Girls High School