LAHORE, March 13: Over 70 per cent of Lahorites are forced to use private vehicles for moving around in the city due to inadequate public transport facilities.

Scarcity of the public transport is evident from the limited number of buses, wagons and rickshaws seen in the traffic moving on the roads. Private vehicles constitute around 90 per cent of the traffic during peak hours when everyone is eager to reach one’s workplace or return home. People have to buy a vehicle because they cannot reach their destinations in time due to the shortage of public transport.

The percentage of private vehicles reduces to around 70 between the peak hours as most of the people on the move are not required to reach their destination in time. People are forced to use their private vehicles not only because of the time constraint but also because of the exorbitant fares charged for uncomfortable travel facilities in most of the public transport vehicles. Lack of reach of the public transport to vast areas also compels the people to purchase a vehicle.

According to the Regional Transport Authority, there are only around 4,500 wagons, 20,000 rickshaws, 800 motorcycle rickshaws, 1,500 taxis, 600 Mazda minibuses and 120 Suzuki vans and around 300 buses. The wagons ply on around 55 routes and the buses on 15. The scarcity of the public transport facilities in the city is evident from these figures as the population has swelled to seven million. According to the seating capacity, a wagon carries an average 20 passengers, a rickshaw two, a motorcycle rickshaw six, a taxi four, a Mazda minibuses 50, a Suzuki van 10 and a bus 100.

Around a million people require a public transport for reaching their workplaces and returning homes, but the 27,000 vehicles can carry at the most around 200,000 passengers at a time if they all are on road. The traffic on most of the arterial roads is jammed when all of them try to reach their destinations on their private vehicles during the peak hours.

There are around half a million motorcycles and nearly 250,000 cars in the city, according to the excise and taxation department record. Motorcycles are the most common private transport because of being within the reach of common man. Two adults riding a motorcycle or one adult driving with two or three children is a common scene on the roads during the peak hours.

Besides private vehicles, thousands of government vehicles are also pressed into service for transportation of the children of the officials to schools and back home. A number of industrial units are operating their own buses to provide transportation facilities to their employees. The provincial government has also provided buses to the Punjab University, Engineering University and a number of colleges.

Overloading in public transport is a common scene during the peak hours. The wagon staff pack up to 25 passengers in the vehicles which has a sanctioned capacity of only 15. They are also the foremost violators of rules. They not only indulge in overloading and overcharging but also split the routes into two or three segments charging full fare of the route for every segment to make an extra buck. The drivers indulge in rash driving and pick and drop passengers anywhere they like. Traffic police agents carrying lists of wagons are seen recovering the ‘monthly fee’ for giving the drivers a licence to violate the traffic rules at different points.

The provincial government decided to rid the city of the menace of wagons during the tenure of Shahbaz Sharif due to the serious violations of traffic rules by the drivers. Wagons were proposed to be replaced by buses. Transport companies were offered soft loans and monopoly on the routes from where the wagons were to be replaced under the franchise programme. Around 1,500 wagons have so far been replaced by buses but the chances of their going off the road are doubtful because the owners have been allowed to shift them on other routes to prevent unemployment. The pace of implementation of the programme has also slowed down following the exist of Shahbaz Sharif.

The flow of traffic has improved on the routes from where wagons have been withdrawn but bedlam has increased on the ones the wagons have been shifted. The wagons form a beeline on some of the overcrowded routes to which these have been shifted.

Two of the three companies are operating new buses under the franchise programme. One of them is operating airconditioned buses and the other non-airconditioned. The third has pressed secondhand buses into service most of which remain off the road. Private buses are available on the prescribed routes after about seven to 10 minutes. Private buses are charging a minimum fare of Rs5 whereas the wagons charge minimum fare of Rs4.

Motorcycle rickshaws are increasing in the city despite the opposition of the traffic police, Environment Protection Department and the auto-rickshaw owners due to low fares and capacity to carry six passengers at a time. These rickshaws have gradually phased out tongas and are likely to replace the auto-rickshaws as well because of low price. They are also likely to become the major public transport in the city parts away from arterial roads where buses are not likely to ply at any time.