MULTAN:Veda, a Metro Feeder Bus, plying on different intercity roads and to other nearby cities is creating trouble and posing threats to the lives of the travellers by overloading.
Hundreds of commuters use the low-priced service to reach their destinations daily including offices, schools, colleges and universities in the city but overloading by the staffers is dangerous for them all.
” I travel by Veda bus to and from my university located at Old Shujabad Road. Daily, it is overloaded and seems to lean on one side of the road. This frightens me and other passengers as well. We are forced to travel by it because of the high prices of petroleum products and the exorbitant fares of cabs and auto rickshaws. The authority concerned should pay heed to this overloading issue for the safety of our lives besides extending a decent travelling mode, said Ahrar Khan, a university student.
He informed me that at every stop, a rush of passengers was witnessed. They board the bus whether it has no vacant seats or not which adds to its load.
” Cleaners of the bus keep on letting them in the bus without bothering overloading problem. At times pickpockets also deprive travellers of their hard-earned money and valuables like mobile phones taking advantage of the overloading,” he lamented.
M. Arif, a govt servant, told this agency that he used Veeda from his office to Qaddafi Chowk daily to catch another vehicle for travelling to Jahania.
He maintained that being a daily commuter he also faced the loading problem adding that sometimes he gets a seat while mostly he has to stand in the bus for reaching his stop which takes around half an hour.
Hira Gul, a student of Women’s University said that she travelled from Shujabad to Multan by Veeda during her first semester and had to stay in a hostel followed by inconvenience caused by overloading on daily basis to and from her native town.
She disclosed many of her classmates also left using the bus due to this issue.
Veda Supervisor, Irfan Qureshi, said that the company was running a total of 100 buses and added that they had demanded of the govt for another hundred buses.
He commented that whenever the company would get the buses, it would reduce passenger rush on various routes.