Mangaluru: The Transport Department has decided to keep an eye on those travelling on the footboards of the buses plying in the city as there is a rise in this trend. Accordingly, the RTO has decided to create a special team this week to keep in check the errant behavior and conduct operation at various locations.

It is the youth, school and college students who mostly stand on the footboards of the private city buses. There are many instances where even though there is seating space available within the bus, they refuse to let go of the footboard and also ignore the conductor’s warning. Moreover this is a daily occurrence. There is a rise in the instances where school and college students travel standing on the footboard during the peak hours of morning and evening.

Now, the Transport Department has decided to put an end to this and has come forward to take legal action against those travelling on the footboard of the buses and also on the bus. As per the law, it is a misdemeanor to travel on the footboard. There is a law which states that the footboards on the city buses must be at least at the height of 52cms. The new buses are not faced by this problem, but a few old buses fail to follow it. Since the footboard is very low and closer to the ground, here have been instances where people have suffered injuries while travelling at various areas including Pavoor, Polali and others.

There are altogether 363 private city buses that ply in the city daily, of which only 5 buses are equipped with automated doors. The 5 buses of route number 27, plying from State Bank to Mangaladevi have been equipped with automated doors.

“It has been noticed that there are a few who travel on the footboard of the various buses plying in the city. The RTO has come forward to take strict action on this. In a week’s time a special team will be created and operations will be conducted at various locations in the city,” informed R M Varnekar, Deputy Transport Commissioner, Mangaluru RTO.

“Even though there is seating space available in the bus, there are a few who travel standing on the footboard. We have conducted operations in this regard earlier. In the coming days, operations will be conducted in an effective manner, “said Manjunath Shetty, Traffic ACP, Mangaluru.

In order to prevent the footboard problem and the travelling by standing on the footboard of the private city buses plying in the city, the private bus owners themselves stood at various locations in the city including Kankanady, Lighthouse, Lal Bhag and other locations and conducted footboard campaign.