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Bus passengers facing hardships due to Eid rush

RECORDER REPORT

LAHORE: The passengers from Lahore are facing severe problems due to the pre-Eid rush at the city's major bus terminals. Many transporters began charging higher fares.

According to reports, the cancellation of a large number of flights due to fog has considerably increased the pressure on road transport. The recent decision of the administration to close the Motorway at night due to heavy fog for the prevention of accidents has also created problems for the travellers who want to go home to celebrate Eid.

A large number of passengers complained that a number of mini-bus owners and conductors of intercity wagons have started charging fares many times the routine. A number of passengers exprienced failure to get reservations.

Officials of various transport companies including Daewoo, New Khan, Inter City, Sky Ways, Rahber and Punjab Tourism Development Corporation confirmed that their buses were running on 100 percent occupancy. They said that they were facing a lot of problems in meeting the Eid demand.

A high official in Daewoo company told Business Recorder that 60 buses were plying on Lahore-Rawalpindi route but "we had to arrange more buses to cater to the rush of passengers on this route".

New Khan official said that although there was a rush on all the routes, Lahore-Sargodha and Lahore-Bhakkar were the busiest routes on which people were facing the most problems in getting tickets.

Zahid Hashmi, a frequent traveller, urged the government to adopt effective measures to facilitate the passengers on the occasion of Eid.

Shabbir Hassan, another passenger, complained about the stoppage of traffic on Motorway, adding that the government should have taken alternative measures to ensure easy and safe flow of vehicles during Eid.

It is being estimated that more than 20,000 people are travelling daily from Lahore to other cities of the province during Eid holidays.