Footboard travel: students risk life for fun

School and college students choose to travel on footboards in buses and hanging from train windows

M. Kumar, 20, a first-year student of MA History in Presidency College, lost his life to rivalry with students of Pachaiyappa’s College in a dispute allegedly over ‘route thala’ (the bus route leader). All efforts of his father Manivannan, a petty shop owner at Guruvarajape near Arakkonam, to ensure a good future for his son went in vain.

Mr. Manivannan said, “The death of my son is a lesson for other students travelling on trains and buses to city colleges. I struggled a lot to place my son in a good college. He studied hard to become a sub-inspector of police. Now everything is lost.”

The accident was considered a fall-out of the ‘route thala’ culture, identified as the main cause for clashes among college students, who travel on the footboard and top of buses and trains. This culture has spread among school students too, traffic policemen point out. Despite awareness campaigns and stringent action, students travelling on the footboard of buses and trains continue in the city and its suburbs.