RAWALPINDI: The Regional Transport Authority (RTA) on Saturday reduced the fares of public and goods transport.

The decision was made after the federal government brought down the prices of petrol by 3.13 per cent (Rs11.83 per litre) and diesel by 25.91 per cent (Rs134.81) on Friday.

RTA Secretary Syed Asad Shirazi told Dawn that the authority reduced the fares and issued a new fare list. He said that the new fares had been implemented from Saturday as per directives of Deputy Commissioner Dr Hassan Waqar Cheema.

He said that the deputy commissioner asked the regional transport authority to bring down the fares as soon as possible so the trickle down effect will reach the masses. He said that a meeting was held with Passengers Transport Union and Goods Transport Association and it was decided that passenger Diesel-based AC and non AC transport will reduce 15 per cent fares subject to all other factors.

He said petrol-based public service vehicles will reduce the fares by 5 per cent and goods transport by 26 per cent.

On the other hand, traders said if the goods transport fares were reduced, the prices of edibles will also come down. However, they said that it would take a week to reduce the prices. Residents said the traders increased the prices soon after the increase in the petroleum prices but after decrease, they failed to reduce the prices.

Mohammad Riaz, a resident of Westridge, said that butchers and grocery stores would not decrease the prices and the district administration should play its role to bring down the prices of edibles. He said the prices of daily-use items from shampoo, toothpastes to edibles had increased manifold.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2026