STEMS which stands for Sustainable Transport and Efficient Mobility Society was incorporated by the Government of Meghalaya in 2022, to revolutionize the way people commute by leveraging modern transport solutions that are safe, sustainable, efficient, and cost-effective. The objective of the STEMS is to develop and implement transport solutions that can enhance mobility, reduce congestion, and benefit the environment by reducing emissions. Traffic jams in Shillong city today are an urban nightmare and cause undue delay for commuters and office goers. The peak traffic congestions occur during school dropping and pick-up hours which means 8-10 am and 2-4 pm. Another reason for traffic congestion is also because thus far there has been no efficient public transport system linking different localities to the main thoroughfare. Hence office-goers mainly commute in their private vehicles. Add to that the thousands of other commuters going for their respective duties in their private vehicles or local taxis and we have clogged roads where a distance of 10 kms takes 3 hours to commute instead of 15 minutes, driving @40 km per hour which is a reasonable speed within city limits. Pollution from vehicular emission has also reached unsustainable levels.
It is in view of all the above concerns that the Government initiated the STEMS public transport system for the benefit of school students, to significantly reduce congestion during school dropping and pick-up hours. However, any system requires a mindset change which is a huge challenge. The STEMS buses have several safety features such as CCTV cameras inside the bus, safe and customised bus fleet, trained staff, assured seat, real time tracking and those ferrying students to make sure that each student is verified. This shared commuter bus project aims to gradually transform the current mobility landscape of Shillong and shift the mindset of people from using private cars to an efficient and sustainable public transport system with enhanced comfort, safety and timely services. This is a much-needed initiative for a hill station that has very little scope to expand the existing road width. In fact, if office-goers start patronising the STEMS bus services there will be a visible reduction in traffic congestion.
While a number of parents have registered their children to commute to and from school on the STEMS buses, there are other parents that claim that their children may not be safe on these buses. Students who use these bus services have shared publicly that they are happy, safe and secure. Much depends on the heads of institutions too, to encourage parents to sign up for the STEMS services. This will also significantly reduce the growing class differences in a society that started off as being egalitarian and which believed in shared values.
