RAWALPINDI: The cantonment authorities have dropped their plan to launch a new transport service after no transporter showed interest in the scheme.

Last month, the authorities had come up with the idea to replace the old public transport vehicles with modern buses on different routes in the cantonment areas and held meetings with the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) and local transporters.

A senior official of the Chaklala Cantonment Board (CCB) told Dawn that the board was assigned the duty to bring transporters to ply new buses on the routes in place of the old wagons and pickups.

No transporter is interested in operating vehicles and replacing old wagons and pickups on cantonment routes, official says

A number of transporters were contacted but they refused to launch new buses in the area. The official said earlier there was a proposal to launch a bus service to the new Islamabad airport but it was dropped after the change of the PML-N government.

Transporters do not want to remove the existing public transport vehicles from different routes and also refused to operate buses in the inner parts of the cantonment areas.

He said due to the absence of a proper transport system in the cantonment areas, the residents were suffering and the number of two and four-wheel vehicles had increased on the routes during last two decades.

The new transport service would also have helped end air and noise pollution besides congestion on the roads.

The transporters were of the view that they had asked the cantonment authorities to arrange a separate bus stand saying they would not park their vehicles on roads.

When contacted, Rawalpindi-Islamabad Transporters’ Association Chairman Raja Riaz said they were facing problems in running vehicles in cantonment areas due to heavy fees and regulations. It is difficult for new transporters to operate in the cantonment.

“We are operating Suzuki pickups on different routes in the cantonment areas. All the public transport starts from Raja Bazaar and there is not a single route allocated for the cantonment areas. The transporters have demanded many times that a proper wagon and Suzuki stand should be set up in Saddar to serve the cantonment areas,” he said.

Mr Riaz said at present pickups were plying from Raja Bazaar to Bakra Mandi, Golra and other routes.

“Public transport for Tench Bhatta, Tali Mohri and Dhoke Syedan starts from Saddar but there is no bus stand for them,” he said.

“Rawalpindi and Chaklala cantonment boards are charging public transport Rs50 per vehicle fee daily but in return providing not a single facility to them. There is no bus stand and if a driver parks his vehicle on the roadside the traffic wardens issue him challan,” he said.

He said there were more than 5,000 public transport vehicles using cantonment roads and they pay the fee.

He said in the city area the Rawalpindi Municipal Corporation (RMC) also charged Rs50 per vehicle daily but failed to provide any facility to them in Raja Bazaar.

“Earlier, we used to park our vehicles at the Fawara Chowk parking plaza but the basement of the plaza has now been converted into a shelter home for homeless people,” he said.

When contacted, RTA Secretary Khalid Yamin Satti said the cantonment authorities wanted to launch a new bus service but the project was shelved as no transporter was interested in it.

He said there were many routes in the cantonment areas and wagons and pickups were operating on the routes. The official said there was no such plan to launch a new bus service for the cantonment areas.

CCB Vice President Raja Irfan Imtiaz confirmed that the plan was dropped after finding no investor.

“We don’t want to render local transporters unemployed. They are providing transport facilities to the residents at affordable fares,” he said.

He added that there were rumours about extension of the metro bus service from Saddar to the Islamabad International Airport at the Motorway Chowk. He said there was a dire need for a decent transport system in the cantonment areas.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2019