Lahore Transport Company (LTC) has come up with a scheme to provide ‘Student Discount Card’ for traveling through public transport in the city, Pakistan Today has learnt. Though the project is yet in its planning phase, LTC hopes to get it in a workable form soon. A survey is being conducted of the students from the public sector educational institutions of Lahore to assess the scheme. The plan is to provide students with prepaid fare cards, charges of which will be added in their tuition fees.
Consultations with administrations of different educational institutions have yielded a positive response about implementation of scheme, LTC PRO Muhammad Amjad told Pakistan Today. He said that a survey research was being conducted to know about students’ residences, their destinations, routes they use and willingness to avail the ‘Student Discount Card’. “The students are being asked in a survey to suggest the mode of payment; prepaid cards or discounted tickets,” he said.
General Manager Operations and Planning Dr Asad Rehman Gillani told Pakistan Today that the scheme was aimed at relieving the troubles of students and to decrease the incidents of violence between transporters and students on issue of fare.
Talking about viability of the project, he said that the surveying phase would conclude by the end of next week and it would be followed by project’s implementation. He told that LTC had taken transporters on board as well.
He said that settling the disputes between the student and the transporters on bus fare was one of main reasons of having the project. He said that an objective was to win the support of students. He said that LTC would be consulting with the representatives of different student groups to persuade them not to damage buses, as these were public property too. “The transporters are reluctant in bringing new buses on roads as they fear students will destroy them in days,” he said.
Replying to a question about the problems of female student commuters, he said that the scheme also included seminars and different sessions to aware students about observing ethics while traveling by public transport. He confirmed that LTC had received complaints about males harassing female students and office workers on some routes during rush hours. “This is a serious issue and LTC can also seek policemen’s deployment on some bus stops,” he added.
STUDENTS APPRECIATE SCHEME:
Students welcomed LTC’s scheme and said that these cards would facilitate them a lot. A Punjab University student Nabeela Rafique said that sometimes male conductors did not return the change and ‘being females, they could not force them’ to return their money, especially at rush hours.
Another student, Sana Shoukat, said that she had to change three buses to get to her college from her house and it cost her more than Rs 60 a day. “Student discount cards will be a bliss for students like me,” she remarked.
A student, Waleed Khan, appreciated LTC’s step. “Sometimes, a student may not have money with him to pay fare and conductors and ticket checkers misbehave in such cases. But having a prepaid fare card will be very comfortable,” he added.
Students’ public transport woes likely to end
