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| January 3, 2003 | Friday | Shawwal 29, 1423 |
ITA’s sticker system collapses
ISLAMABAD, Jan 2: The sticker system introduced by the Islamabad Transport Authority (ITA) for the public transport of different routes in Islamabad Capital Territory last year has almost collapsed.
The stickers printed in blue, red and green colours detailing the route number, main stops falling in the route and the fare have been removed by the transporters. These were issued to all the vehicles plying from and to Islamabad.
It was mandatory for every transporter to get the ticket before coming on the road and get their vehicles passed by the police. The set of five stickers bearing signature of secretary ITA was to be pasted on the windscreen, rear window, conductor’s door and inside the vehicle.
The authority devised this new system to ensure that no vehicle plied without route permit besides providing them with data about all the vehicles plying on different routes.
But the ground situation is otherwise. After the colours of the stickers faded away, the drivers removed them, creating hardships for the commuters. Exchange of hot words between the drivers and the passengers on charging of fare is an everyday phenomenon.
There might be no exchange of words if every vehicle carries the sticker showing the exact fare for each stop of the route.
Further, the commuters are unable to distinguish between the vehicles plying in the capital. No sooner a wagon advances towards the stop than the commuters chase it to get seat presuming it to be of their route. But to their dismay, they find the vehicle to be of another route.
In the evening, the vehicles of some other less profitable routes start plying on lucrative routes, which sometimes leads to a brawl between the transporters causing inconvenience to the commuters.
Absence of stickers also provides an excuse to the police to extort Bhatta from the transporters. The commuters have been complaining to the district administration in general and the ITA in particular to get the stickers pasted by the transporters on their vehicles, but to no avail.—Mohammad Saleem Shahid
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