Staff, buses of private transporters: Punjab declines to provide security: PUTA

Punjab Urban Transport Association Chairman Arshad Niazi said that Punjab government has declined to guarantee security to staff and buses of the private transporters which has resulted in sharp drop of buses in the big cities.
Talking to Business Recorder here on Friday, Niazi said that 1,000 private buses were plying on 35 routes of the provincial capital before Shahbaz Sharif government came into power in 2008; their number has now nose dived to 100 buses only due to the provincial government's policies. "The Punjab government owned Lahore Transport Co (LTC) has also failed to induct a single new bus in its outdated fleet during past three years," he added.
Niazi said that the biggest hurdle in the way of local and foreign investment in the Transport sector is the unlimited induction of motorcycle rickshaws that are plying on all roads of the big cities. At present more than 80,000 registered rickshaws of all makes in Lahore have made inclusion of new buses in the fleets of the private urban transporters uneconomical, he added.
It may be recalled that Punjab government had set up a special task force headed by retired Commerce Secretary Tasnim Noorani in 2008 to provide modern transport facilities to hundreds of thousands of commuters by adding at least 2,000 buses to the Punjab urban transport system in collaboration with the private sector. However, the private transporters refused to make further investments for buying new buses unless the government guaranteed protection of buses and the staff and regulated the plying of rickshaws and wagons in the urban areas.
Meanwhile, commuters have bitterly criticised the Shahbaz Sharif government for its apathy and cold shoulder to the transport problems of the overwhelming majority of people who have no means to buy their own transport and are dependent on the public transport for earning their livelihood.
"The government has spent billions of rupees on building over-head bridges and unnecessary widening of roads in Lahore to facilitate the car owners but has not bought a few hundred buses to provide transport to the common man," a commuter Tariq said. Students of universities, colleges and schools also expressed their dismay with the performance of the provincial government as public transport is almost non-existent in the sprawling city.
When contacted to comment on the performance of the government owned Lahore Transport Company, LTC spokesman Amjad told this scribe that a fleet of 56 new Chinese buses has reached Karachi port which will arrive in Lahore within the next couple of days after customs clearance in Karachi. The Chinese supplier has shipped 20 more buses which would reach Pakistan in a week's time, he added. Amjd hoped that 211 new Chinese buses would be plying on various routes of the provincial capital soon to provide dependable, comfortable and safe transport to the general public.