Maharashtra school bus operators warn of fee hike over fuel prices | Mumbai News
2 min readMumbaiMay 27, 2026 04:44 PM IST
Ahead of the new academic year beginning in June, the School Bus Owners Association (SBOA) in Maharashtra has warned of a fee hike due to the recent rise in fuel prices. Furthermore, the Association has urged the government to allow schools to function in hybrid mode to reduce the number of days students need to use school buses.
The Association claims that frequent hikes in fuel prices – where cost is changing in days – have made it difficult for operators to finalise a uniform fee structure before the start of this academic year.
In a statement issued on this SBOA stated, “School bus operators, who are already facing severe financial pressure due to increasing operational expenses, maintenance costs, insurance premiums, permits, staff salaries, and compliance requirements, may now be compelled to revise school bus transportation fees if fuel prices continue to rise further.”
However, in the interest of parents, students, and educational institutions, the SBOA said it wanted to avoid additional financial burden on families, and has made suggestions for an alternate-day school functioning model and single shift transportation system.
According to SBOA, a hybrid mode of functioning will reduce daily transportation operations, thereby lowering fuel consumption and operational costs, while a single shift transportation measure will significantly reduce multiple bus trips, fuel consumption, and operational expenditure.
Anil Garg, SBOA president, said, “Schools currently have multiple shifts requiring as many trips to ferry students. If these shifts are combined, it can help in reducing the number of trips required.”
Garg highlighted that to run nearly 40,000 school buses under the association, the requirement of fuel is huge – over 1.2 lakh litres.
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Urging the government to make a decision soon, Garg said, “Although fuel prices have been rising constantly, there is no clarity on what the upper limit will be, as the government is increasing prices every few days. This creates uncertainty for us, as we have to finalise the fee structure before schools reopen and declare it to parents. If fuel prices continue to rise in this manner, how can we fix a single cost?”
