Islamabad - Working women hailing from twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad are still waiting for concerned authorities’ attention towards their major demand of a respectable transport for reaching their destinations in time and conveniently.
The two front seats reserved for women at public transport vans are not enough to cater their need, however, the separate van service `Tabeer’ has already been halted due to few reasons after completing pilot project of three months. A large number of women who step out for education, employment or other household needs have to face humiliation during travel, bear severe weather conditions besides waiting for hours at stops to get a seat in a public transport.
Asma Zia, an employee of a private office at Blue Area, said, “Conductors behave rudely with us.” She said drivers are not willing to board women on vans except the two front seats reserved for them and they are left with no option than to wait for hours.
Shehla Ramzan, a student of Foundation University said, she lives at Said Pur road Rawalpindi which is not far away from her university but she had to leave home at 6.00 am to reach university in time for the first lecture at 8.30 am.
She said the two seats were reserved almost three decades back and no one till now had bothered to look into the matter or revise the seats despite daily complaints from women.
An official of Rawalpindi Transport Authority when contacted said, Metro bus service has a separate portion for women so their problem would be resolved soon.
He said Metro bus service is a respectable transport and all problems would be resolved once it starts.