Returning home: Rising transport fares dent Eid festivity

Transporters fined in Sohrab Goth, Old Sabzi Mandi and Rainbow Centre

KARACHI: Eidul Azha revolves around relishing family togetherness and celebrating sacrifice. However, residents have to pay a heavy price to return home for the occasion.

At Sohrab Goth bus stand, passengers can be seen hurrying from one place to another with a heavy travelling bag on their shoulders.

One passenger, Rab Nawaz, said he had sent all his salary to his family in Khairpur and had saved Rs600 as travelling expenditure. However, the transporters are charging as much as Rs1,000 to Rs1,200 for one-way travel which costs Rs400 on a normal day, he said.

Ticket-collector of Niazi Coach, Waheed Niazi, said it is not just their bus service which has increased ticket prices but all the transporters are doing it to earn more before Eid.

Another passenger, Shahid Ali, said they have to deal with the problem of increasing prices of fares every year on Eid. This is not the first time that the intercity transport has increased the fares as from them it is an opportunity to take advantage of helpless passengers who are willing to travel back home at any cost, he added. Mureed Ahmedani, who wanted to travel to Dera Ghazi Khan with all six of his family members, remarked that he cannot afford seven tickets costing Rs1,500 each.

Ahmedani also said that he visited the railway station in the morning but the tickets were being sold for twice as much as the original ticket. He then immediately headed to a bus stand.

Manshad Ali Shahani, the regional transport secretary, said their teams fined several transporters on Saturday. The teams were sent to check and monitor fares at various bus stations including Sohrab Goth, Old Sabzi Mandi, and Rainbow Centre.

Similar raids will be conducted till Monday to help the passengers, he added.

Eid special trains

On the other hand, a similar situation was observed at the Cantt Railway Station. A number of passengers came to the station early to find a seat in the special train being run by Pakistan Railways .

Holding five tickets in his hand, Aijazul Haq said he came to the station at 7am to buy the tickets. The first special train left on Saturday morning at 11am and will reach Peshawar today (Sunday) at 10pm. Another train, bound for Lahore, will leave the station at 11am today, informed Pakistan Railways division officer Muhammad Nasir.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 11^th, 2016.