IIT study reveals parents ready to rely on pool cars if safety is enhanced
The Times of India, City (March 2, 2020)
Parents ready to rely on pool cars if safety is enhanced, reveals IIT study
KOLKATA: Safety and security of students are the biggest concerns for parents while selecting the mode of transport to and from schools. An IIT study revealed that if safety measures are enhanced, a lot of parents (as indicated by a sample size of 12,000 parents) will shift their kids from cars to shared mode of transport, which will reduce congestion, pollution and journey time. The study helped develop a demand model to explain the present mode-choice behaviour of parents with respect to the use of schoolbus and pool cars.
Significantly, the study found that more and more parents are using private mode of transport, such as car, to drop and pick their children to and from schools. "Now, the preferred modes of transportation for schoolchildren are in this order--private cars, pool cars or schoolbuses and public transport," said Bhargab Maitra, head of RCG School of Infrastructure and Design Management, IIT-Kharagpur, and principal investigator of the study--Improvement of Safety of School Trips and Traffic Management around Schools in Urban Areas: Kolkata as a Pilot Study under Future of Cities by HRD ministry. (Read More)