Taking advantage of current petrol shortage, public transporters, particularly the taxi drivers, are overcharging commuters of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.
The twin cities are short on public transport and people have to wait for hours at bus stops. The citizens are left with no option but to pay exorbitant fares to reach their destinations.
The Rawalpindi Transport Authority (RTA) has announced a new fare list after a massive reduction in petrol prices, however the transporters are not ready to follow the new list. Some even charge almost double, lamenting that they have to suffer long queues to get petrol.
Asad Khan, who travels daily from Committee Chowk to Blue Area where he works at a private firm, said, “I have to reach office at 9am and usually leave home at 8am. However, now I make it a point that I reach the bus stop at 7am to reach office in time. It is a gigantic task to get a seat in a van as they are already filled and conductors are not willing to board long-route passengers.”
“I have to take a van up to Faizabad and then get another one for Poly Clinic stop, from where I walk to my office in Blue Area. For that last one week, I have been paying double the fare up to Faizabad and then to the next stop. All my office colleagues narrate the same story. This is badly affecting our monthly budget for expenditure.”
Nayab Ramzan, who boards a taxi from Islamabad Airport to Fauji Foundation on a regular basis, said that the taxi driver charged Rs 500, which is double the usual amount. She said that when she argued, the taxi driver said that their working hours had been reduced due to petrol shortage.
Tanveer Gul, a van driver at Aabpara, said, “Petrol pumps are selling petrol on higher rates. It’s hardly available anyways. How are we supposed to meet our expenses?”
