Workshop on Safe Commute to School held in Pune

Pune, 29th March 2025: Parisar and CEE hosted a workshop on ‘Safe Commute to Schools’ on 29th March 2025 at the Bharat Itihaas Sanshodhak Mandal, Sadashiv Peth. The workshop was attended by school representatives, teachers, parents and officials.

The half day workshop started with a session on the School Travel Improvement Plan
(STIP) Guidelines, published by PMC in 2023. The School Travel Improvement Program (STIP) was introduced to provide safe access to schools in order to encourage modal shift from private mode to Public Transit and Non Motorised Transport. Despite ongoing efforts, the city still lacks the essential infrastructure required to support safe school travel. Issues such as encroached footpaths, non-existent cycle tracks, unregulated traffic around school zones, inadequate pedestrian crossings, and lack of last-mile connectivity continue to put our children at risk daily. Mere cosmetic enhancements will not solve the fundamental issues at hand.

PMC has allocated 50 lakh Rupees for STIP in this year’s budget . “While the allocation of the budget for the School Travel Improvement Plan is a positive step, it is crucial that these funds are directed toward civil infrastructure improvements such as walkable footpaths, safe junctions, shaded streets, and dedicated cycle tracks. Investing in durable, safe, and accessible infrastructure ensures a sustainable and long-term solution for the safety and well-being of students, creating a foundation for future growth and success.” – Abhijit Kondhalkar, Urban Designer

A letter demanding better implementation of STIP in more schools of the city was endorsed by participants in the workshop and will be sent to PMC.

Bapu Gaikwad, City Engineer, Mobility Department of Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation attended the workshop and shared his experience of implementing safe school programme in Pimpri Chinchwad. No official from Pune Municipal Corporation attended.

This was followed by a panel discussion on Cycle Bus, an innovative way to get more children to cycle safely to schools. Panelists included Arjit Soni, Founder and Director MyByk from Ahmedabad, Prakash P Gopinath, Bicycle Mayor, Trivandrum and Harshad Abhyankar, Save Pune Traffic Movement from Pune. All three panelists were people who have implemented this concept in different cities of India and the conversation was guided to find out what are the challenges and how they can be overcome.

Faraskhana Police Inspector, Maruti Patil attended the workshop and threw light on the efforts they take to make roads safe to commute for children, as well as others.

In the last session, schools discussed and shared issues their school zone and students face while commuting to school, along with identifying potential solutions to these issues and the stakeholders involved in the solution. Over the course of this year, these solutions will be taken up in some of the schools to make school commute safer.