Commute to Islamabad airport a costly ordeal

As far as financial burdens go, either having a job or departing from and arriving at the New Islamabad International Airport, is a mammoth one for many given the lack of public transport operations on the route leading to it.

Accessible by the Srinagar Highway, the airport became operational nearly four years ago but the metro bus route leading to it has been in the completion pipeline for what seems like an eternity as per the twin cities’ residents. A source at the National Highway Authority (NHA) informed The Express Tribune that the NHA had completed the metro bus project in March last year at a cost of Rs16 billion but the work of the NHA was limited to infrastructure. “Purchasing buses, maintenance, and operations is not our job,” an official familiar with the matter said.

This lack of a public transport system to an airport, which is located 25km west of Islamabad, has burnt a consistent hole in the pockets of those who access it either regularly or from time to time. The Express Tribune learned that hailing a cab or minivan from the federal capital’s twin Rawalpindi to the airport costs anywhere between Rs2,000 to Rs2,500 but this rate goes up for night time and early morning commuters who have to pay between Rs5,000 to Rs8,000.

Farid Bhatti, a junior employee at the airport who resides in Rawalpindi, said that after he grew tired of giving a major chunk of his meagre salary to commuting to work, he started carpooling with other employees. “We are four employees who split the travel cost amongst us now, but we suffered a great deal in the start and the employer did not offer any help either,” said Bhatti.

Whilst passengers do not have to pay a daily cost for commuting to the airport, the exorbitant rates are nothing less than highway robbery for them. Najib Malik, who has just arrived from the United Kingdom to Islamabad with his family, was left baffled at the price the taxi driver quoted him. “After I had loaded all my luggage in the cab, the driver demanded Rs10,000 to drive us till Bhara Kahu,” he said. Malik added that given it was 2am in the morning, he had to strike a bargain with him at Rs9,000 so that they could get home.

An irate Inayat Khan, who had come to see off his family at the airport, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that all over the world airports are located outside the city, but the government provides a shuttle service for cheap transport.

When inquired about the struggles commuters to the airport faced, Regional Transport Authority Rawalpindi Chairman Arshad Ali said that they had approved a new transport route from Rawat via Kachehri and from Koral via Kachehri to the New Islamabad Airport. “At present, 10 mini buses have started operations on this route from Rawat,” he said.

However, Jamil Abbasi, who travels to the airport regularly, said that this was not true. “I go to the airport everyday to work at a cafeteria and have never once seen a minibus from Rawat on that route. Only verbal route permits have been issued,” said Abbasi.

Sources at the Capital Development Authority (CDA), who was handed over the metro bus project by the NHA for operations, stated that the citizens’ plight would come to an end in March. Syed Asif Raza Shah, spokesperson of the CDA, said that the Capital Mass Transit Authority Act was developed for the metro bus service. “This metro bus service will run from Peshawar More to the New Islamabad Airport. With the launch of this service, the shuttle service from all three routes will be connected and run simultaneously. It is not too far off now,” Shah informed The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 5^th, 2022.