RAWALPINDI, May 6: The city district government is yet to provide new bus service to the commuters travelling between the twin cities.

Although the city government has sent a summery to Punjab government for new bus service, the situation on the ground shows that the new bus service is still a far cry.

“We have done all home work and sent a summery to the Punjab government in this regard, and I hope the new bus service would ply on Pindi-Islamabad route after this fiscal,” said Raja Javed Ikhlas, the city Nazim.

Mr Ikhlas said that the new CNG buses would be invited after consultation with local transporters so that their reservations were addressed.

“I have also discussed the matter with President Pervez Musharraf and we want competition but not to hurt business of others,” he added.

However, sources in Regional Transport Authority (RTA) told Dawn that the city district government was earlier active in launching new public transport and had banned mini-buses on Murree Road. “But they have again come on the Murree Road, which clearly indicates that no transport party is coming to the city in the near future,” they added.

The sources said that RTA has closed route permits to Hiace vans, and said that the public transport was far short to meet the rising number of passengers.

A commuter who visits five places in a day has to pay Rs50 which is a huge amount for a person whose daily income is just Rs100. The sources said that traffic congestion was not because of public transport rather it was due to increasing number of private vhicles.

They said that about 1,000 Hiace vans were plying between the twin cities while private vehicles were 20-times greater than the public transport.

The sources said that only new bus service could provide relief to the commuters otherwise there was no solution to the problem.