Driving schools in Bengaluru are still reeling from the impact of the second wave of Covid-19.
Only 30 per cent of the pre-pandemic business has returned since lockdown restrictions were lifted, say business owners.
Nagendra Kumar S, proprietor and principal of Maruthi Driving School, says business has never been this bad. “Other businesses have slowly picked up, but that is not the case with driving schools,” he tells Metrolife.
He says the business was able to cross some of the hurdles placed by the first lockdown, but the second wave posed a bigger challenge. “People are still not over the effects of the second wave. Learning to drive has stopped being a priority as a majority now follow a hybrid way of working and don’t need to travel a lot,” he says.
Bangalore Driving School gets 15 to 20 students every month cumulatively across three branches in the city. “This is not even half of what we used to get in the pre-pandemic days. We see no improvement,” says Mudassir Yousuf Ali Khan, proprietor. The school, with its headquarters in Armstrong Road, has one teacher at each of its branches.
One of the reasons for the drop in students is the digital barrier, according to Khan.
“The process to get a learner’s licence has shifted completely online. Our customers were much more comfortable with offline tests as not everyone has access to digital devices,” he explains. If the process is made offline again, it might improve business at the driving schools, he says.
According to statistics released by the transport department, Bengaluru crossed the one-crore mark in registered vehicles by the end of 2020.
“There was a surge in vehicle numbers just as we got out of the lockdown, but the trend didn’t last. In fact, many of our students have stopped using their vehicles because of the rise in petrol prices. They now prefer public transport,” says the owner of another driving school in the city.
Only two branches of his driving school are currently functioning, and he says he has had to suspend work at two others for want of business. “It became increasingly tough to keep all the branches running as there was barely any business this year,” he says.