School van operators increase fares due to fuel price hike

Parents sending off their children on the first day of the school got a rude awakening when the school van drivers informed them about increase in the fare. “Baji, the monthly van fee has increased to Rs1,500. Please make sure to pay in advance before the fifth of the month,” Saima Khan a mother of three school going children said quoting the van driver. With incomes static or eroded by runaway inflation, “me and my husband will have to pay Rs500 extra for each child,” she told The Express Tribune during a survey. In November the price of petrol was around Rs101 and it is almost Rs112, however, for the Rs12 increase school vans owners have increased fares by Rs200 to Rs500. Academic session starts full force After the rise in prices of petroleum products twice in a month, the transporters providing pick and drop services for schools have increased their fares. According to the transporters, the monthly fee for the school van service has been increased by up to Rs1,500. The increase has come into effect from the first day of the month, they said. Van drivers parked outside a private school said that they have told the parents to increase the monthly charges or withdraw their children. “We have limited seats and there is always demand for the school van service,” said a transporter running a fleet of pick-up vans. Van drivers Zulfiqar Satti, Amjad Khan, and Nowruz Abbasi said that last year’s fee was no longer viable for the services. “Fuel prices have increased by Rs15 during the past few months,” Satti said. Shabbir Hussain, a parent of four school going children said that when fuel prices drop, no transporter cuts the fare. The administration and police have conduct crackdown to make transporters charge official rates when fuel prices are cut, but when there is an increase they push up the fares at their own free will. Meanwhile, the inter-city transporters of Rawalpindi and Islamabad have arbitrarily increased the fares on all routes on the same pretext. The local route fares have been increased by Rs2, suburban fares by Rs4, and long route fares by Rs20. The transporters have also started demanding fares from passengers for the luggage which is leading to quarrels between them and passengers. The Rickshaw ad taxi drivers are not staying behind in the realm and they have jacked up the fares too. Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2021.

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