May 02, 2008	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 25, 1429

PESHAWAR, May 1: Following the recent increase in prices of petroleum products, the Sarhad Transport Owners Association on Thursday announced yet another rise of 3.2 per cent in fares.

This is the third rise in transport fares during the past one and a half months. Transporters had announced a 20 per cent increase in fares on March 16 and a 4.50 per cent rise on April 19.

Sarhad Transport Legal Action Committee chairman Mr Ihsanullah told Dawn that the increase was in accordance with a formula decided at a meeting with officials of the Provincial Transport Authority on March 18.

As per the formula, he said, the fare for per kilometre, per passenger had been increased from 78 paisa to 79 paisa for air-conditioned vehicles and for non-air-conditioned vehicles, from 55 paisa to 58 paisa.

In the past, he said, the government used to increase prices of diesel and avoid revising the fare list but now the fares would be increased the day the diesel price was increased. He said transporters would increase fares by one paisa if the price of diesel was increased by up to Rs2 per litre.

He said the formula would apply on public transport plying from Peshawar to various districts of the country, and not on vehicles plying in the limits of the Peshawar district.

Local transporters’ association president Jehangir Afridi said they would convene a meeting of transporters in order to take a unified decision about increase in fares.

He regretted that the government had failed to supply fuel on subsidised rates to people and the recent rise had further increased problems of the poor.