KARACHI: Though after announcing the ban imposed on rickshaws and heavy vehicles from entering Sharea Faisal was deferred for a month on Saturday, there was much anxiety among rickshaw drivers and passengers, especially women, who all found it difficult to even visualise the main arterial road of the city without any three-wheelers.

“Sharea Faisal has schools, colleges and offices. The turning towards the city’s biggest hospitals including the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre and the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases is from here as well. Rickshaws are the only vehicles that can be hailed in a second and asked to transport you anywhere. I just can’t imagine their not having any presence in the future on this main road. Deferring the decision is no good. The authorities should accept that it was a silly move on their part to even think of such a thing and take back their decision altogether,” said a woman passenger, Sabra Iqbal, near the Nursery turning on the Sharea Faisal service road.

Madhu Parmesh, who said she often had business to take care of at the Federal Express office in Block 6 of PECHS, also said that it just didn’t make sense. “If such a ban is imposed, it will inconvenience everyone. No bus would ever stop where we need to get dropped, of course. Buses here don’t even stop at their designated stops,” she said laughing. “Only rickshaws and taxis do that. But taxis can be expensive,” she said.

“I have been driving people’s cars for 19 years. I just bought my own rickshaw on instalments and now I feel so disheartened by such unfair impositions. We are bullied by traffic police all the time and now this would open their mouths even wider,” said Mohammad Saeed, who was waiting for passengers under the Baloch Colony flyover.

“Actually, something like this happened a few months ago as well. Then all rickshaws coming on Sharea Faisal were fined Rs500 each. But then seeing the inconvenience to the public, they revoked their decision. Now they did it again,” said Mohammad Shahzad, another driver.

“Actually, I know what the problem is. It is also our fault because I have seen other colleagues ignoring common traffic rules. They drive in the fast lane on the left when they are never supposed to do that or they don’t allow room to ambulances or protocol vehicles for VIPs. We all get punished for the mistakes of a handful of ignorant rickshaw drivers. Maybe the authorities could guide and spread awareness about the downsides of violating traffic rules among our lot before taking such severe steps as to stop our entry on a main arterial road of Karachi such as Sharea Faisal,” he said.

Meanwhile, Traffic DIG Dr Amir Shaikh while explaining their take on the matter to Dawn said that they had earlier taken this decision based solely on the traffic viewpoint but then they were forced to see the bigger picture as well. “We want to take a public and humane approach to the problem as well. Therefore, we are taking another month for reviewing how to tackle the issue,” he said.

“Also, many professors, teachers and doctors appealed to us that they had paid some rickshaw drivers for transportation to their places of work that happen to be at or near Sharea Faisal,” he said, adding that the ban on heavy vehicles entering the road was still in place and only the one imposed on rickshaws had been deferred for now.

“It is a signal-free corridor from Avari Towers to Star Gate on Sharea Faisal and 60km/h is the minimum speed expected of the traffic to keep the flow smooth, especially during peak hours. A rickshaw moves at 40km/h max and rickshaw drivers are also in the habit of switching lanes. They also come on to the fast lane to come in the way of those who need to move fast,” DIG Shaikh said.

“Then both rickshaws and motorcycles are in the habit of overloading. A bike is made for two people, not three. And a rickshaw may have three passengers and a driver, not seven. Overloading is dangerous. It cannot be allowed,” he said.

“We are going to carry out a survey now. The motorcycles and buses will have their own separate lanes now. We are going to do this ourselves, through our own funding though it is really the job of the KMC to do this. We will put up barriers, signs and boards to direct traffic and help its flow on the major roads such as Sharea Faisal. We will also put up informative boards to educate the public about traffic rules,” he said.

“If the rickshaw drivers show commitment, we can consider keeping them off the road during the peak traffic hours. They can be on the road after 11pm at night till 2pm in the afternoon and stay off it during the peak hours which start after 2pm till late evening around 10pm.”

Published in Dawn September 18th, 2016