LAHORE, Nov 20: The District Regional Transport Authority will gradually phase out all the wagons plying in the provincial metropolis, and replace these with buses on all the city district routes.

District Coordination Officer Khalid Sultan, the chairman of the DRTA, stated this while presiding over a meeting here on Thursday. The meeting was convened to consider the performance of the franchised bus service operators and issue new route permits.

The authority’s secretary, Khalid Mahmood Mela, said 20 to 25 per cent wagons had been eliminated from the city district routes so far, and not even a single new wagon had been issued a route permit.

The DRTA chairman said 63 companies had approached the provincial transport department for starting new franchised transport services. Of those, some 40 were interested in starting operation in the provincial metropolis. He ordered stopping of illegal wagon shuttle service between the Gulberg Main Market and Kalma Chowk.

He said the authority would not issue permits for operating new wagons on any route. Twenty-six seater Mazda buses would be the smallest public service vehicles to be issued new route permits along with the buses on inter-city routes falling within the city district limits.

He directed the traffic police to impound franchised buses only in case of accidents because it caused inconvenience to the public. The drivers should be challaned for not keeping the required documents or any other offence.

He asked the authority secretary to issue warnings to the companies, which had failed to get the licences of their bus drivers verified and submit their medical reports.

He was informed that only Daewoo had got the licences of its bus drivers verified and submitted medical certificates of its employees so far. Most of the companies had failed to provide uniforms to their bus drivers as well, he was told.

Mr Sultan took serious notice of the failure of all the transport companies, except Daewoo, to set up proper workshops for maintenance of their buses.

The City District Government Workshop in-charge, Maj Niazi, would visit the bus terminals of the companies and advise them to set up their workshops, which would not only facilitate trouble- free operation of buses but also increase their operational life.

All the franchised transport service operators should operate the agreed number of buses on their routes and ensure operation of buses at night as well, he said. Taking stock of failure of the Monolite Transport to bring the agreed number of buses to the General Bus Stand-Green Town route, he said, the franchised agreements could be rescinded for the transporters’ failure to operate the agreed number of buses.

Meanwhile, the DRTA approved new bus routes between Nizamabad and General Bus Stand, Kot Abdul Malik and Lahore Railway Station and Sherakot and Railway Station.

The establishment of a new D-Class stand was also approved at Manga Mandi while the application for a new route from Rang Mahal was rejected because of the fact that the buses could not turn from there.new routes: Punjab Transport Minister Rana Shamshad Husain has said that franchised buses would start operating on new urban and inter-city routes in the province early next year.

He told a delegation of notables from Gujranwala here on Thursday that 63 companies had expressed interest in starting service on urban and inter-city routes in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad, Multan, Sialkot, Sargodha, Gujranwala and Sheikhpura.

A committee headed by the Punjab transport secretary was examining the offers, he added.

He said the chief minister had ordered extension of the franchised transport scheme to all the big cities in the province because it had been welcomed by all sections of society. The government was, therefore, extending the scheme not only to more cities but also trying to increase the number of buses on the existing routes.