Most public transporters in the city did not ply their vehicles on Monday on the pretext of gas load shedding at CNG filling stations. More than 50 percent of all public transporters refused to complete their designated routes or ply vehicles, to the dismay of commuters. Private transport and taxi owners have also been exploiting the situation by charging more than the agreed fares. “The authorities need to direct these transporters to stick to the official fares’ list or ban these vehicles from filling CNG because they never leave any for private vehicles,” said Muhammad Ramzan at the Shamsabad bus stop. He said the authorities were supposed to create fixed fare lists for CNG vehicles but no step had been taken so far. Female commuters and old citizens in particular face hardship as transporters fleece passengers and authorities have failed to take action against them. “I boarded a public van from the Saddar bus stop and the conductor told me they were plying their vehicle up to Faizabad instead of Islamabad as they were running on diesel due to gas load shedding,” said Saleem Ahmed. However, the same vehicle left for Islamabad with new passengers to charge twice the fare, he alleged. The exploitation of passengers has become a norm in the city and authorities have continued to turn a deaf ear to their plight, allegedly because of the influential transporters’ cartel.
