RTA Secretary Naseem Khan said the revised list will be effective from today (Wednesday) and a province-wide crackdown will be initiated against transporters not complying with court orders.
No changes, however, have been made to the province’s inter-district public transport fares which vary from Rs12 to Rs25.
Fares were most drastically reduced for the DI Khan- Peshawar route, which came down to Rs252 from Rs353. The Peshawar to Swat bus rates have been reduced from Rs181 to Rs129, to Malakand from Rs145 to Rs103, to Tal from Rs176 to Rs126 and to Dir from Rs262 to Rs188.
Meanwhile, for Shabqadar, rates were lowered from Rs25 to Rs18 and to Mardan from Rs61 to Rs43.
Transporters at the general bus stand - the largest public transport terminal in the province- expressed their ignorance of the revised rates and claimed that they had already reduced fares by Rs20 for intra-district transport service. However, commuters at general bus stand and Kohat Bus Terminal, who were returning to Peshawar after Eidul Azha holidays complained that they were overcharged by transporters.
Majeed Jan, a student of Peshawar University, told The Express Tribune that he was asked to pay Rs90 instead of Rs61 while coming back from Mardan.
He accused transporters of profiteering after Eid and claimed that transporters were using the large influx of commuters to demand extra fare by citing a shortage of buses.
Commuters at other bus terminals echoed complaints of overcharging. Sajjad Khattak, who had travelled from Karak to Peshawar, said he paid Rs250 although the RTA had fixed the fare at Rs165.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 31st, 2012.
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