Bike hailing services flouting safety rules in twin cities

Majority of the bikes have damaged or broken headlights, faulty indicators

ISLAMABAD: The recent introduction of online ride-sharing services in the country has brought immense relief to people since it is not only economical and convenient but also helps solve the dearth of public transport in the country. However, it has come with a caveat that the vehicles employed in the service are poor.

This is a gross violation of safety rules and endangers the lives of citizens who avail these services.

Since these companies do not directly own the vehicles, relying on crowd participation, commuters complain that some of the bikes registered with these companies have damaged or broken headlights, faulty indicators, worn out fuselage, rusty bike chains, untrained drivers and at times no helmets for passengers.



"I use to hire a bike from one of the popular bike hailing services while returning home from the office. But during the entire journey, I kept praying for my safe travel due to untrained drivers and damaged condition of bikes," complained Abbas Ali, who is a frequent user of ride-sharing services.

While acknowledging the fact that these two-wheeler hailing services solve a major travel headache faced by those hailing from the low-income strata of society by charging nominal fares when compared to their three-wheel and four-wheel counterparts, the management of these services must instruct their drivers about traffic rules and safety measures.

Ali suggested that the companies impose their own fine over the continuous violations of traffic and safety rules by the drivers.

Shafqat Ali, another regular rider of these services, said the drivers of these bike hailing services try to get as many passengers in the shortest possible time and usually book another ride before completing the previous one.

In a hurry to catch the next ride, they violate traffic rules, speed and ignore the safety of the passengers as well as their own, he complained.

“Most of these bikers are students or youngsters who are usually careless and are unaware of the severe consequences and risks of such neglect,” Shafqat said.

Munir Ahmad, a regular rider of the service said that before the introduction of these services, they were compelled to pay high fares to taxi and rickshaw drivers and had to bear the inappropriate behaviour of local transporters to reach their destinations.

But thanks to these app-based services, they can now avail rides on cheap rates at their doorsteps at the touch of a button.

The lack of helmets for passengers also puts the lives of users of these services at great risk. Ahmad urged the management of the services to make it mandatory for their drivers to follow the safety measures.



Where the services themselves fall short is that few of them have dedicated call centres available to field user complaints. As a result, users face difficulties in approaching the service providers in case they suffer from any misconduct or mishap on part of the driver.

Javed Ahmad, a manager at one of the bike sharing companies was of the view that, "We are trying to provide maximum relief to our passengers but due to inexperienced drivers sometimes we have to face a very awkward situation. However, we are making constant efforts to address these issues and improve the quality of our service in light of the customers' feedback.”

He said earlier these services were working in the developed countries where traffic rules are more strictly followed and such problems do not happen. However, in a country like Pakistan, these services are a new experience for all and it will take time to plug the loopholes.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 7^th, 2019.