Hundreds of commuters travel daily between Rawalpindi and Islamabad on public transport and a majority of them are extremely disappointed on account of the erratic availability and lack of facilities in the public transport vehicles. Commuters complained that public transport vehicles lack proper seating plans, end up not completing routes, and drivers and conductors often harass the passengers. The reply from the operators of public transport seems to be, ‘If you wish for convenience and efficiency, go pay for a taxi.’
A student, Sadat Ullah, said that he has to wait for long periods of time in order to find a seat and is often unable to reach his college in time. “Due to the shortage of public transport, commuters wait for hours at bus stands, also, the condition of public transport is so deplorable that I am often forced to hire a taxi, which is quite expensive,” he said. He added that most of the public transport vehicles in the city have worn out seats, broken windowpanes, irregular seating arrangements, out of order locks and extremely poor hygiene levels. Saadat Ullah appealed to the authorities concerned to arrange for efficient transport on a variety of routes in order to reduce the problems faced by students. Another commuter, Amna Khan, said that women and aged commuters face a lot of difficulty due to the shabby condition of public transport, and went on to urge the authorities concerned to devise a comprehensive strategy for reliable and comfortable services.
Some commuters complained that when traveling on public buses or vans, one does not know when one would reach ones destination while a female commuter, Naureen Agha, said that the seats of the public transport vehicles were very uncomfortable, “The authorities should set up a proper system which ensures that vehicle owners maintain the interior of their transport,” she said.
Pakistan Today learnt that drivers often overfill their vehicles in order to increase revenue. For example, even though the Motor Vehicle Registration Authority (MVRA) rules stipulate that a maximum of 15 people, including the driver, could be seated in Hiace, many of the drivers carry as many as 20 people. Furthermore, regulations necessitate that every vehicle owner must have their vehicle checked by a Motor Vehicle Examiner (MVE) every six months, but most of the vehicle owners ignore this rule as well. “Many vehicle owners obtain fitness certificates from the authorities without presenting their vehicle by using ‘some influence’ on the MVE’s,” said a senior official at the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) administration who wished to remain anonymous. He added that the main reason behind the shabby state of the transport system in the capital city is the failure of the ICT administration to introduce and organize the traffic system in the metropolis. “The problem could be easily solved if the administration takes strict action against the ‘wagon mafia’ operating in the city”, he said.
When contacted, Islamabad Transport Authority (ITA) Secretary, Khawaja Maqbool Mustafa claimed that ITA, with the help of ITP, regularly checks the ‘fitness’ of public transport vehicles and does not issue fitness certificate to vehicles which do not meet the passing criteria. He added, “ITA does not issue permits to old vehicles and ICT is making efforts to launch new projects to solve the shortage of public transport.” He also said that it was the responsibility of ITP to issue tickets to vehicles which appear physically unfit and send such vehicles’ registration documents to MVE’s.
