June reopening rush: Back to school and back to Bengaluru traffic?

Bengaluru: With schools across Bengaluru gearing up to reopen this June, Bengaluru is bracing for the return of morning and afternoon congestion. While the traffic police are pushing a fresh 10-point directive, ranging from banning parking around school zones to enforcing on-campus boarding, school managements and transport operators argue that blanket mandates ignore ground realities, particularly in the choked Central Business District (CBD) area.

Joint Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Karthik Reddy pointed out that boarding and deboarding on the road right in front of schools goes against road safety rules. “As much as possible, they must handle the boarding and deboarding of children inside the school. Also, the entry and exit gates should be separate,” he told DH.

He added that school buses are being parked on roads and insisted that schools must either park them inside their premises or find alternative off-road locations.

Implementing this in the CBD area, which has prominent schools, has proved difficult. Many schools cannot afford to maintain their own fleets and have outsourced transport to agencies using smaller buses, as hiring BMTC or KSRTC buses costs an unviable Rs 12,000 per day.

To control congestion, a prominent school on Vittal Mallya Road has resorted to a restrictive mechanism under which parents reportedly have to pay around Rs 4,000 per month to allow private cars inside the school gates.

While BTP states that almost 98% of schools currently start before 8 am, with only about 2% to 3% starting by 9 am, the debate over further staggering timings is facing resistance.

‘Mass pooling a failure’

D Shashikumar, General Secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools, strongly opposed pushing school hours earlier, stating that an early start will take a toll on parental health and well-being. “Early start timings are not the solution. Mass pooling is a failure, and while allowing vehicles inside school premises, safety matters much more,” he said.

Shashikumar suggested that the focus should shift to designating specific zones for mass pick-up and drop-off points, where the government provides a school bus fleet to carry students through school routes. He urged the regularisation of private carriers such as minivans and smaller vehicles by subsidising operators and providing minibuses to enhance trust in this transport mode.

A representative from a CBD-based school management said, “While we want to assist the traffic police, forcing us to bring hundreds of private vehicles onto our campuses creates a safety nightmare inside the gates, and we will have to take the blame for any mishaps. Many historic schools in the CBD simply do not have the space to build internal transit loops.”

Many parents say they are already balancing corporate shift timings, and pushing school hours earlier forces young children to wake up at unreasonable hours.

Prof B R Supreeth, academician, noted: “Traffic police presence during school hours is essential. Temporary barricades, no-parking enforcement, and trained school safety volunteers can create safer entry and exit points for students. Public responsibility matters too. Drivers must slow down, avoid parking near gates, and always yield to children. A city becomes truly civilised when its roads respect its youngest citizens. The government, traffic police, schools, and citizens must act together. The journey to school should never be dangerous. The road is a child’s first classroom, and Bengaluru must ensure it teaches safety, not fear.”

The enforcement drive also heavily impacts the private autorickshaws and vans that ferry children daily. For these operators, balancing strict traffic rules with the physical safety of children is a daily struggle. “The police tell us not to park or stand near the gates, but where else do we go? Parents trust us to drop their children safely right at the gate. If we park two streets away, who will take responsibility for the child walking through the city’s broken footpaths and heavy traffic? The schools don’t let our autos inside. We are caught between the police fine and the child’s safety,” said an autorickshaw driver.

Possibility of parking of vehicles inside school premises to drop and pick up children during opening and closing hours.

Traffic jams extended up to Richmond Road flyover as school vans autos and private vehicles blocked movement on Residency Road near several private schools and colleges.