Far and dear: Commuters suffer as work on metro bus route starts

With Benazir Bhutto Road dug up and closed for traffic, transporters charging higher fares.

ISLAMABAD:

In just six weeks, Rawalpindi’s Benazir Bhutto Road formerly known as Murree Road, has become unrecognisable. With ditches and fast emerging concrete pillars, giant machines and construction workers across the length of the road are busy building a new road on top of the road day and night.

The metro bus project, which will be the first public-sector transport service in Rawalpindi since the GTS that closed in 1998 after years of inefficiency, is scheduled to be completed in less than a year.

Where the project has elicited necessary criticism over its over-the-top cost and environmental impact, the bus service is also expected to free hundreds of thousands of commuters from the daily misery and humiliation of travelling in an inefficient public transport system.

Inter-city commuters suffer at the hands of vans plying on the Murree Road.The Route 1 vans, which will offer the biggest competition for the Metro Bus route, have been unofficially directed to use Rawal Road to reach Saddar instead of moving through Committee and Marrir chowks. Using the alternative-route excuse, they have increased fares without the approval of the District Regional Transport Authority (DRTA).

“They demand Rs40 from any stop in Islamabad to Saddar,” said Momin Ali, a student who travels from Aabpara to Rawalpindi on a daily basis. “The regular fare is between Rs27-30.”  “If you can fill my van’s fuel tank, I have no problem in charging less fare,” said Muhammad Razzaq, a van driver.

The Rs40 fare only comes close to the end-to-end Saddar to Secretariat route a ticket for which costs Rs37, according to the DRTA approved rates.

There are also complaints about the inconvenience caused to commuters who have to disembark at stops between Chandni Chowk and Saddar.

These stops are now not covered by the vans. “I make sure to check with the van drivers if they will drop me off at Marrir Chowk,” said Raja Khursheed, who works at a shop at Super Market. “But they lie to me every time. When the van drivers reach Rawalpindi, they say they cannot head back to Murree Road from Moti Mahal, leaving some passengers stranded, he added. “Passengers then have to fight to get a seat in either the van plying on the 1-C route from Rawal Road or share a Qinqi ride on Murree Road. In both the cases, it is heavy on their pockets.”

DRTA Secretary Awais Tarar said the re-routing was aimed at easing the traffic load and they will keep “realigning it” as the work progresses. He said he would look into the issue of a fare increase.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 11^th, 2014.