KARACHI, March 13: Operators of Metro buses, playing in the city under the Urban Transport Scheme for several years, have started violating rules. After a recent change of ownership of the metro service, these buses are now owned by many individuals and transporters and there is no central authority to take care of performance of the service or to redress problems faced by the commuters.

The metro bus service when started was an air conditioned service and there was no concept of persons standing in these buses, but these days, ACs have been removed and commuters are made to suffer.

Similarly, routes allotted to these metro buses have been altered unilaterally by the operators as 9-B Express, used to ply between Keamari to Malir Cantonment via University Road now terminates its journey at Saddar although it can reach Tower and Keamari through MA Jinnah Road.

It is pertinent to mention here that another metro bus, 15-A terminates its journey at Tower by using MA Jinnah Road.

An official of the city government transport department said as the UTS was an autonomous body under provincial transport department’s supervision, they had nothing to do with the affairs of metro buses. However, he acknowledged that complaints were being received regarding poor services of metro buses.—PPI