The commuters of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi demanded a proper public transport system saying the transporters ignored the safety standards by fitting more than one CNG cylinder in their vehicles and putting the commuters at risk. A commuter said several fatal incidents took place in public transport vehicles as their drivers threatened human lives to earn money and make their business more profitable.
At present, there is no decent transport service for the residents who are compelled to travel in uncomfortable and overloaded vans that cover different routes. The transporters fleece passengers who change different vehicles and pay more than double the necessary fare to reach their destination. Most of the public transport vehicles do not follow the allotted routes and create problems for the commuters.
Many students are forced to travel on top of the buses due to a shortage of transport available and in most cases reach their schools and colleges late. Female students said they have to wait for a long time to find a place in the public transport vehicles. They added that these vehicles had a limited number of seats allotted to them. Male passengers’ occupation of the reserved seats worsened the situation for them. Ahmed Ahsan, a student, said due to financial problems, he could not pay the full fare of the bus and that transporters were reluctant to allow him to travel at concessionary rates. He demanded that the authorities provide sufficient buses to the colleges, especially to women’s colleges. The commuters also had to face problems due to the rude behaviour of the transporters.
The commuters demanded that the authorities concerned take notice of their problems and take immediate action against those who did not follow traffic rules. A private company employee said a new transport system should be introduced as the present transporters failed to facilitate the commuters. Commuters are awaiting the launch of the CNG buses, which was announced earlier. A CDA official said the civic body would introduce 35 air-conditioned and environment-friendly buses on the Rawalpindi-Islamabad route in the first phase to provide passengers proper travelling facilities, including a nominal fare structure, uniformed drivers and security guards.
