ISLAMABAD: Working women, of twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad on Tuesday demanded to the authorities concerned for providing a safer, cheaper and convenient transport service.
Many working women of the twin cities were lamenting the lack of proper female transport service as no such facility exists for over the past decades. They were of the view that authorities concerned should start an efficient service for fulfilling their genuine demand.
A female passenger, Zunaira Aslam said the federal capital was the destination for many working women that had lacked transport at various routes of the metropolis.
“What to talk of a separate bus service for women there is no transport for even men in different sectors of the metropolitan,” she regretted.
She said mostly women were dependent on public transport which was not convenient and most of the time transport facilities were unavailable in most areas of the twin cities.
“Earning a very limited salary, it is very difficult for a middle class to pay huge taxi fares in that available calculated income,” she added.
Zainab Ali a university student said that only two front seats on public transport vehicles were reserved for female commuters which were completely insufficient for hundreds of working females. In the evening mostly the wagons were not available and those available were not abiding by their set routes.
Maryum Rizwan, a web designer said most public buses and vans were heavily loaded and conductors did not bother to reserve the two front seats for women and hence, allow male passengers to occupy those so-called reserved seats.
She went on to mention that sometimes they had to face harassment from conductors and were compelled to remain silent.
In metro bus service (MBS) only a few seats have been reserved for woman and most women commuters were facing difficulty during their journey. Same situation persists in other routes of twin cities including Expressway, Kashmir Highway, the women commuters had to face problems in journey.
When contacted, Islamabad Traffic police official Shams Gill said that they were fully implementing the rules for reserving two front seats for women. In case of any complaint, the traffic police imposed heavy fines against the driver of that particular vehicle.
Publish in pakistantoday.com.pk 03 March 2020
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Transport