KARACHI, Nov 5: Arguments erupted between passengers and public transporters on Monday as the former insisted on paying revised fares while the latter insisted that they hadn’t received the new list, four days after the government lowered the fares.

Many commuters who called newspaper offices complained that various public transport operators were still charging higher fares. Most of the complaints were regarding bus routes 4M, UTS 12, 4L, 5C, and, Muslim Coach and Khan Coach.

Acting swiftly after hearing media reports about overcharging, the government on its part began cracking down on public transport vehicles and booked about 50 vehicles for over-charging. The passengers traveling in these vehicles got lucky as the transporters refunded them the extra amount in the presence of government’s raid teams.

The Karachi Regional Transport Authority secretary Bashir Hussain Mirjat said that he conducted raids at the CSD bus stop near Gora Qabristan and booked around 50 vehicles which included Safari Coach, Shama Coach, F11, 17H and 17K for over-charging. He said that he also made the transporters return extra fare they had charged from about a 100 passengers.

He said that a meeting would be held today at the Karachi commissioner’s office to set up more teams so that transport operators who were over charging were brought to book.

The chief of Karachi Transport Ittehad, Irshad Bokhari, said that the revised fare lists were distributed among all bus operators and they were charging according to the new list. He urged the passengers to insist on paying the lower fare and not give in to the public transport operators.