‘Number of parents choosing to send their wards to school in pool cars increased by 10%’

The number of parents opting for pool cars in the city and suburbs have increased by 10 per cent compared to last year, Pool Car Owners’ Association secretary Sudip Dutta said on Wednesday during an awareness campaign held by the association outside a private school to help parents choose government-approved pool cars.

The association conducts an awareness campaign every year at schools to encourage parents to opt for pool cars and inform them of the necessary permits that they must have. They handed over a list of members who are permit holders operating at the private school.

They also cited a study conducted by IIT Kharagpur scholars, which stated that pool cars and school buses can be the best alternative when it comes to avoiding traffic chaos. Since most schools in Kolkata are located in densely populated localities, the problem of parking and traffic becomes a grave issue.

After Covid, the number of parents dropping their children in private vehicles had also increased. “Suddenly there has been a spike in the number of private cars post the pandemic. One reason for this can be parents fearing for their children’s safety in crowded car pools or public vehicles,” a private school teacher had said.

There are at least 3,000 to 3,500 legal pool car services running in districts, including Kolkata, Howrah, North and South 24-Parganas and a part of Hooghly-Dankuni. One of the participating parents, who is a professor and a clinical psychologist, said that parents are naturally scared to let go of their children with unknown people and for most working parents coming everyday to drop and pick their children is a task.

Thus, if a parent does proper research and follows the caution tip given while choosing a pool car service, it is helpful and with the coming of Vehicle Location Tracking Device (VLTD) there is also a sense of security that the kids’ movements are traceable.

The Transport department had also decided to put up banners in front of schools to help parents identify registered and safe pool cars which they can opt for their wards.The banners will include different parameters that parents need to check before choosing a pool car which includes

VLTD and Speed Limit Device (SLD) amongst others.