“Financially speaking, we can no longer talk of ‘health’; we are almost dead. Economic contraction fuelled by runaway inflation has battered the goods transport businesses massively. No respite is likely in the short or the medium term unless government provides some stimulus package,” says Punjab Goods Transport Association (PGTA) president Chaudhry Zulfiqar Ali.

“The goods transport business has shrunk to nearly 40 percent of what it used to be. Hundreds of factories — even whole industries — that had been large sources of freight activities, have been defunct for months. Besides the spiraling impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, exorbitant rates of electricity and gas have incapacitated the industrial base. There is no momentum going forward. Unless the industries are restored to an operational mode, the goods business will remain in the dumps,” he laments.

Ali says the sword of a default on loans was hanging over the transport system as a large number of vehicles had been financed by bank leases and the entrepreneurs were unable to make repayments that were due or would be do due soon. Some banks, he said, had already started retrieving the leased vehicles. “The inflation has suffocated businesses and robbed them of all dynamism. The government indifference will spell their doom,” he adds.

Passenger traffic sector, too, he says, has been hit by the escalating costs. There is no escape for most people from an amount of commutation associated with their daily routines. Even the poor have to bear the rising fares. Since the month of May, fares of inter-city transport have been highly unstable.

Most passengers are currently paying more than the fares last set by the government. Two years ago, the government had imposed a fare formula of 98 paisa per kilometre. In May, 2020, it fixed the fares at 73 paisa per kilometre in lieu of a 20 per cent reduction in fuel prices. Transport owners rejected the formula and have been collecting unauthorized fares.

Mian Khan Baloch, president of the Workers’ Federation wing of the All Pakistan Bus Owners’ Federation said that the 20 percent reduction in fares was unreasonable and impractical.

With regard to intra-city transport, commuters are in dire straits. The exit of publicly subsidised franchise bus operations has left the commuters at the mercy of the private sector. The online taxi services have raised the fares. Rashid Bhatti, a commuter, says that four months earlier, a trip from Thokar Niaz Baig to Harbanspura would cost him between Rs230 and Rs300. Now, he says, he is charged more than Rs400 for it. According to the taxi service the fare calculation is based on peak factor, waiting, GST and value-added tax.

“A rickshaw ride is no different. They have increased fares knowingly other transport services are suspended or frequently unavailable,” says Bhatti.

In comparison, rail and air travel present a savoury outlook. In order to provide affordable services to all and sundry, says Quratul Ain Fatima, the public relations director for Pakistan Railways, the railway ministry has decided not to increase the fares. “We are keeping rail travel within the financial reach of the masses,” she says.

In July, 2019, she says, the fares were raised by 2 percent to 8.5 percent. “But passengers travelling up to 50 kilometres were exempted from the revision.” Meanwhile, she says, the goods transport charges had been reduced by 10 percent with a further 5 percent discount on online booking.

Mass Rapid Transport is meant to be the most inexpensive commutation service aiming to ensure affordable traveling for the underprivileged sections of a society. However, inflation has compelled Punjab’s famous metro bus service to revise the tariff upwards.

Muhammad Ozair Shah, the general manager in charge of operations at the Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMA) says the fare had to be hiked from Rs 20 to Rs 30. He says the government is still subsidizing the operation to the tune of Rs 2.3 billion annually.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has meanwhile reduced fares for its international as well as domestic flights. The reduced tariffs will remain in effect till November 15.

There is currently a 20pc reduction in fares of domestic PIA flights between Karachi and Faisalabad. Earlier, on September 4, the PIA had brought down fares for flights between Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad. For flights between Islamabad, Karachi and Lahore, the airline now charges Rs7,400 for a one-way travel with a 20kg baggage allowance; Rs 13,500 is charged for a two-way ticket.

Hassan Majeed, an executive at a private courier service, says that charges for domestic as well as overseas shipments have been largely stable for many months.

The writer is a freelance journalist. He can be reached at yaseerkhan@hotmail.com