As soaring petrol rates push citizens towards choosing the cheapest travel option available, an army of unregistered transport providers cunningly capitalize on the situation, as they gleefully welcome dispirited passengers.
With a large segment of the working age population turning towards the port city for better employment opportunities, the demand for inexpensive, automated transport has grown markedly over the years, creating an environment conducive to the expansion of unregistered transport services, which offer bike and car rides at low fares to passengers in areas like the Cantt, Drigh Road, Landhi, Saddar, Sohrab Goth and Lyari, stirring panic among the populace, who resent the added risk to their lives and valuables, that accompanies travelling with an unidentifiable driver.
Sohail Irshad, a private office employee, who relies on an unregistered bike service for daily commute due to a leg injury, shared his reservations about his mode of travel.
“Even though the fare is reasonable, I would not recommend this to others since an accident can happen anytime and no one can be held accountable,” opined Irshad, who called on the government to initiate the registration of the plethora of unlisted transport providers that have mushroomed in recent years.
Another citizen Salman confirmed Irshad’s judgment, when he reported encountering countless unregistered transport providers across different markets, shopping centers, hospitals, railway stations and bus stops, who were offering bargainable fares to travelers for reaching a variety of destinations.
Saif, a traveler from Sargodha, who reached Karachi in a bus, shared his experience with the swarm of unregistered bike drivers that received him at the Sohrab Goth Bus Stop.
“Multiple bikers offered to drop me home and each claimed that they would allow me to decide the fare. I chose one of them and came home after paying Rs350 as fare,” revealed Saif, who had previously only used the public transport system for his travels.
As more and more people turn to unregistered transport services, due to their negotiable fares, bikers like Talha, who works for an online bike service, feel that the low fares are only an indication of the fact that independent drivers have more money on their hands, in comparison to their registered contemporaries, as they evade the commission that is levied against a drivers daily earnings by the recruiting company.
“Because we do not have to pay a commission to any company, we can afford to set low fares for our rides,” shrugged Talha.
Waqas, a driver working for a private transport application, seconded Talha’s revelation when he revealed that he regularly has to allocate a significant portion of his daily earnings for the company’s commission.
“Up to 12 per cent of my earnings are taken by my company through their mobile application. I understand why so many people would prefer to work as unregistered drivers,” insisted Waqas.
While some privately recruited drivers like Waqas show solidarity with their counterparts, who have found a more rewarding source of income in times of permeating economic uncertainty, others like Rameez resent the unregistered drivers for monopolizing the automated transport business.
‘Due to the sprawling of unregistered transport services, which offer cheap fares, the work opportunities of genuine drivers like me have been deeply impacted,” exclaimed Rameez, who further opined that the safety of passengers was also at an increased risk.
Speaking to the Express Tribune on the matter, a spokesman from the Transport Department of Sindh said,” The government is taking relevant steps for the registration of all services that are providing automated public transport in order to ensure the safety of the commuters.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 14th, 2023.
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