TransPeshawar asked to explain taxi ban
The heads of the company operating the new bus service in the provincial capital and the chief of the city’s development authority have been told to explain a ban on other public transport services along the bus route in the city.
This was directed by a two-member bench of the Peshawar High Court (PHC), comprising Justice Qaiser Rashid Khan and Justice Nasir Mahfooz, as they heard a petition filed by a rickshaw driver over the ban on plying his three-wheeler and other public transport vehicles along the route of the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT).
Justice Qaiser remarked that the operations of the bus service are suspended every other day because the buses keep breaking down and that every resident of the city does not own a vehicle.
He further asked why the BRT buses are parked under the open sky.
A representative for TransPeshawar, the government-owned company responsible for operations of BRT, told the court that these buses can resist impacts of weather.
“Will you keep the buses parked under the open sky if they are resistant to the weather’s impact,” the judge asked.
The bench then summoned the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TransPeshawar and the director-general of the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) today (Wednesday).
Earlier, the counsel for the petitioner told the bench that the government had issued a notification restricting route permits for rickshaws and taxis for the length of the BRT route.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 4th, 2020.