LAHORE: The situation of the transport sector of Lahore worsens when Eid is approaching. On the main arteries of the city, there is bumper to bumper traffic.
Rickshaws and cars cause traffic issues opposite bus stations. During the past couple of days, especially the weekend, roads in Lahore, mostly those that lead to the exit points, show Daewoo buses, filled with laughing people excited to return to their villages for Eid.
But things are not going well despite the excitement. At a closer look, passengers who seem to be happy are in fact full of complaints. This is not counting complaints from local citizens who face traffic problems associated with more and more people leaving the city all at once. Instead of easily accessible transport that would help people in traveling, there is a dearth of transport facilities, which in ordinary days may not matter to such a large extent, but with the mass exodus, transport problems have reached a head.
“I have been finally able to save up to go and meet my parents for Eid,” said Iqbal, a labourer. “But I have found out that the private bus companies have raised their fares in order to take advantage of the travelers,” he added.
“We have really no way of traveling outside the city,” said Muhammad Rizwan. “Trains are slow, and buses even though they leave on time are way too cramped and expensive for the likes of us,” he said.
Rizwan is a richshaw driver himself, and said that he was aware of the transport problems within the city itself. A Daewoo employee admitted that fares had been increased for Eid because of the rise in fuel prices. “How can we reduce the fare when the government gives us no concession?” he questions, although apologetically.
Fares have been increased by Rs 10 to 20 for Eid. A trip from Lahore to Faisalabad for instance costs Rs 420. While passengers throng to bus stations in the city, train stations are no less in attracting people from all walks of life to travel to their cities.
But trains present issues other than fare rates, which are not very low themselves. “First of all the rates are high, secondly the trains are overly slow,” said Bashir Ahmed, who was waiting for his train to start. “We have been waiting here for half an hour but it seems like we’ll be reaching late,” he said.
Train passengers were also sick of traveling in a train that had no facilities of clean toilets and comfortable seats. “For long trips this is more a ride of suffering than of comfort.
Travelling from Lahore to Gujrat is something that can still be tolerated but if we travel from Punjab to Sindh, or towards Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the ride becomes so torturous, that we always have ourselves resolving never to travel again,” said Sanaullah, a passenger. Torn seats, cockroaches, dirty toilets, smelly compartments were only some of the issues that passengers have complained about. The workers’ unions also agreed with this argument but have something more to cry over.
A disgruntled Zafar Malik, who was from the Lahore Railways Workers’ Union said that the government had not helped the railways in trying to establish a foothold as a mean of transport.
“The fares have not been lowered for the people. Only five more trains, only for Eid have been introduced called Eid Special trains, to accommodate the large numbers of people who have to travel. But other than this, there is nothing special about these trains themselves,” he said.
The first Eid Special train began its journey on Sunday, he said even though the load of people was so heavy on the trains that often the public had to travel sitting dangerously on rooftops because there was no space inside.
Malik said that over a hundred trains have been closed down, despite the fact that most of the masses rely heavily on trains to travel to rural areas and even to other urban centres.
“Obviously if no subsidy is given to passengers, even at these important times of the year, then they will definitely opt to ride like this, and also choose private buses as an alternative because they have a better speed, and easier to travel in,” said Malik.
