The Hidden Cost of Long Commutes: Bengaluru Bus Delays & Their Impact on Students

Does your child spend more time on the school bus than in the classroom?

For many families in Bengaluru, that question is uncomfortably close to reality. Rising traffic delays mean students are paying an invisible price for their education: hours of lost time, frayed health, and missed opportunities to simply be children.

The Problem: When the Road Becomes the School

School days no longer start at the gate; they start on the road. On stretches like Sarjapur–Varthur road, bus travel times have increased by more than 30% in recent years, affecting tens of thousands of students.

The consequences are easy to picture:

• Students leaving home before sunrise, returning after dark.

• Homework is being attempted in the dim light of a moving bus.

• Families are cutting back on extracurriculars, playtime, or even sleep to make up for lost hours.

This isn’t just an inconvenience. It is lost childhood, compromised learning, and a daily drain on wellbeing.

Why It Matters: Health, Learning, and Equity

Long commutes don’t just eat into schedules; they chip away at health and energy. Studies show that insufficient rest and high stress reduce a child’s ability to focus in class. Add to this the lack of physical playtime, and the toll becomes clear.

The burden is also uneven. Families with access to private cars may be able to stagger routines or arrange carpools, while others must rely solely on crowded buses or expensive cabs. In the end, the impact of traffic becomes yet another marker of inequality in schooling.

What Parents Can Do

While we wait for larger fixes in urban planning and transport, parents can still take small but meaningful steps:

• Talk to your school: Explore options for staggered timings or shuttle buses on high-traffic routes.

• Explore alternatives: Check if safer back-routes or BMTC shuttle tie-ups are available.

• Coordinate locally: Parent carpools or community-organized vans can reduce both costs and delays.

• Track and share: Use navigation apps to log commute times. Consistent data strengthens the case when asking schools or civic bodies for change.

What Schools and Policymakers Must Acknowledge

Travel is part of education, even if it doesn’t appear on the timetable. When commute times rival school hours, schools and city planners cannot treat this as “outside their scope.”

• Schools need to recognize that commuting is part of the student experience. Building awareness, offering flexible scheduling, or investing in better transport coordination are not optional extras.

• Civic authorities must consider school routes in traffic planning. Delays are not just an urban nuisance; they affect the well-being of an entire generation.

The SchoolDoor POV: Making the Invisible Visible

At SchoolDoor, we believe education isn’t just about what happens in classrooms. It’s also about the daily journeys children make to reach them. When those journeys become longer, more stressful, and unsafe, the cost of education rises in ways no fee structure captures.

This is why we need parents, teachers, and students to share their lived experiences. A single story might feel isolated, but together, patterns emerge. With collective voices, the “invisible cost” of commutes becomes visible and undeniable.

All Hands to the Deck

If we can crowdsource reviews for restaurants or hotels, why not for something as crucial as the school run? Parents across Bengaluru and across India already swap notes in WhatsApp groups about traffic delays and bus timings. SchoolDoor gives those scattered conversations a common platform.

👉 Share your child’s commute experience. Add your voice, your data, your perspective.

Because when it comes to the future of our children, we can no longer afford to lose hours every day to gridlock. Together, let’s make sure childhood is about learning, not just waiting in traffic.