Public transport: LTC to study Qing Qi use for phase-out plan

Transport officials say motorcycle rickshaws are unsafe, hold up traffic.

LAHORE:

The Lahore Transport Company (LTC) is planning to conduct a study of the number of passenger rides taken on Qing Qi or motorcycle rickshaws in the city each day in order to come up with the best way to phase out these vehicles from public transport, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Officials with the LTC, traffic police and Rescue 1122 say that the Qing Qi rickshaw is more dangerous for passengers than conventional rickshaws and is also more detrimental to the flow of traffic. However, they also acknowledge that it is a cheap and convenient mode of transport for many and will need to be replaced.

LTC officials estimate that there are between 50,000 and 70,000 of these rickshaws at work in Lahore. “It would be very difficult to replace them all at once. We would need to know the total number of rides that they provide a day on average, and how many passengers use them,” an official said.

He added that simply replacing each Qing Qi rickshaw with a conventional rickshaw would not solve the problem, since the former carries more passengers. Conventional rickshaws operate on a ‘contract carriage’ model, whereby a passenger hires a vehicle for travel to a single destination, like a regular taxi. Qing Qi rickshaws operate on a ‘stage carriage’ model, whereby they travel along a route and pick and drop passengers along the way. They operate like a passenger van or bus, but usually without defined routes or stops.

LTC Chief Executive Officer Khawaja Haider Latif said that the company was considering several options on how to address the problem of Qing Qi rickshaws. He confirmed that the company was planning to register all Qing Qi rickshaws in order to get an idea of the number of rides they provide each day, but the plan would first need to be approved by a committee set up to end illegal public transport. He said that the committee would be briefed on how the proposed enrolment of rickshaws and passenger use study would be conducted.

Latif said that Qing Qi rickshaws would not be legalised, but the LTC was aware that they were used by a large number of people, particularly the poor, and they did not wish to deprive them of transport. “Then there is also the fact that many people are employed through them. So we will keep this in mind and we will not be harsh on Qing Qi rickshaws,” he said.

He also conceded that not all Qing Qi rickshaw drivers would be willing to participate in the study. “We will get traffic police to help us with those rickshaws,” he said.

The LTC has written to three companies that manufacture rickshaws asking them to suggest idea for making Qing Qi rickshaws safer. He said that after getting their ideas and the results of the study, they would come up with a solution and suggest it to the government.

Rescue 1122 District Officer Dr Ahmad Raza said that Qing Qi rickshaws had no safety features and were open on all sides. “Even in accidents at low speed, passengers riding Qing Qis can suffer serious injury. The rickshaws that are locally converted from motorbikes tend to fall sideways even at low speeds,” he said.

Another major problem was that Qing Qi drivers were often underage, he said. “Half of them don’t have a licence. These drivers tend to be more reckless,” he added.

Chief Traffic Officer Captain (r) Sohail Chaudhry said that Qing Qi rickshaws were very dangerous and played havoc with the flow of traffic. He said that the study of their use would help them decide alternative rides. He said that a Qing Qi could comfortably carry five passengers as well as a lot of luggage, which a conventional rickshaw could not.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th, 2013.