Crisis in the School Bus Ecosystem

By Nischal Ranjinath Muniandy

October 2023 FEATURE
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WALKING ALONG Jalan Gottlieb on a balmy Wednesday evening, I could not help but be struck by the sheer amount of vehicles on the road. Traffic was at a crawl, with cars bumper-to-bumper and motorcycles weaving through any available gap. The last bell had just rung at the Penang Chinese Girls’ High School, and students were streaming out. Parents were jostling for space to wait for their children while school buses were trapped in a sea of vehicles.This gridlock is...

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Nischal Ranjinath Muniandy

writes about urban and transportation policy, with a focus on sustainability and accessibility. When not looking at maps of cities or writing about cities, he's usually designing them on Cities: Skylines.


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