KARACHI, Oct 13: Operators of the Urban Transport Service (UTS) buses have started indulging in irregularities, with a majority of people complaining that they were being overcharged by the operators.
The UTS operators on certain routes have displayed exaggerated fare lists of their own, and they keep on making amendments in those lists, commuters said.
The fare lists, they said, had not been authenticated either by the transport authorities in the Sindh government or in the city government.
Inquiries revealed that overcharging by bus operators was going on a number of routes, especially on Saddar, Tower, Cantt Station, Clifton, New Karachi, Orangi and Korangi routes.
The UTS operators, instead of charging Rs5 or 7 on the Saddar-Tower routes, from Nursery to Tower, were charging Rs10.
The route operators have not even introduced monthly passes for those utilizing the service daily.
A number of commuters who travel by the UTS buses complained that the drivers of the buses were issuing them tickets of higher denominations. Some commuters, especially women, who protest against this behaviour, are made to leave the bus, or to pay the fare being demanded by the bus operators.
Moreover, buses are run packed to capacity. The exhaustion caused by travelling without a seat can be well imagined by those who go through the process. The transport department officials who travel in luxurious cars cannot imagine the sufferings of the people, remarked an elderly man.
Inquiries reveal that sometimes conductors and drivers add to the sufferings of the commuters because they consume maximum time by stopping vehicles unnecessarily on non-designated bus stops.
Moreover, drivers of the buses were not utilizing auto-door facility which sometimes proves hazardous for commuters.
The commuters demanded that the operators of buses be made to observe rules, and they should use the auto-door facility.
Similarly, the operators of Muslim Coach, Marwat, Lucky, Ilyas, Shama, etc., are also indulging in overcharging. Instead of charging Rs11 for a certain journey, the coach conductors demand Rs12. Often altercations take place in the buses over this fare issue.
A number of commuters demanded restoration of the original route of Y between Shah Faisal and Burnes Garden.
