The commuters of twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi have called for bringing down fares of public transport following decrease in fuel prices.
The commuters urged the authorities concerned to provide them a sigh of relief, as the transporters are still charging higher fares despite reduction in oil prices.
The commuters said that mostly transporters operating in the twin cities use CNG as fuel, but the transport authority had issued the fare-list according to the prices of the diesel and petrol.
Meanwhile, the local transporters did not complete their designated routes giving the argument of the weekly gas holidays for CNG stations in twin cities.
The commuters who daily travel between the twin cities, are facing problems due to non-compliance of route number 1, 1C, 3, 111, 121, 24, 21 and 127 by the public transporters.
Muhammad Sajid, a commuter said he had to change two vans and pay fare twice for the same route while coming or going back Rawalpindi, due to route violation of the transporters. He said there should be an effective mechanism to ensure route completion, and grievances of the commuters should be addressed.
The commuters said that the authorities concerned should take stern action against the transporters involved in route violations.
“I got on a wagon of Route Number 120 from Karachi company. After boarding the vehicle, the conductor told me that they would only go up to Aabpara as they were running on petrol due to gas holidays,” Farhan, a commuter at Aabpara bus stop complained.
When contacted transporters, they said due to CNG weekly holidays, it is difficult for them to operate on petrol all long day.
An official of the ITP said that a help-line had been established to address the grievances of the commuters. He said that the commuters could register their complaints in case of route violation or overcharging. He said that the commuters could complain to the traffic wardens on duty at various points on the city main routes.