Twin cities commuters await for re-introduction of CNG buses
By Khalid Amin

ISLAMABAD—Commuters in twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi are anxiously awaiting for the re-introduction of CNG passenger buses to mitigate problems associated with transportation issue.
The problem seems to be increasing with a surge in the population of the twin cities and mass movement of people between the two cities. Many schemes were introduced in the past, but due to stiff resistance by the owners of vans in Rawalpindi, these could not be translated into reality.
Though the district government has announced to bring transport companies on the roads of twin cities in short span of time, the people have demanded that private interested companies should come forward to provide relief to their daily problems.
“Its strange that a company in the recent past brought out green revolution on the roads of twin cities by introducing CNG buses but it went out of the scene silently contrary to its introduction with much fanfare,” observed a senior citizen, Mumtaz Ali, standing at bus stop at Faizabad.
Aiysha Naureen, a university student at I-9 police station stop welcomed introduction of bus service from Pirwadhi to Secretariat. She said the seat capacity and the routes covered by these buses are signs of relief for us and such public transport schemes should be encouraged.
Zulfiqar Bhatti, an executive in IT company of Islamabad, said that it is high time to bring out a parallel transport system in form of CNG buses to the existing network which would be more environmental friendly.
It is a fact that transport is an essential part of our lives, providing us with access to the goods, services, employment and social experiences that contribute to quality of life. It is generally observed that as jobs and services have become more dispersed, the need to travel has become greater and society has become highly reliant on the private transport to meet this need. With this reliance on the private transport, comes its associated problems.
Private transport companies can play an important role in developing better transport and reducing the impact of transport by taking some positive action towards more sustainable transport, Kamran Khaimisani, director of a human resource development agency told newsmen.