The “Higher CNG Bus” in Rawalpindi!

By and large, the number of different types of local transport in major and minor cities of Pakistan has increased. But as like other things especially of public use, the quality remains dismal. Rawalpindi is no exception. Many types of local transport like ‘totas’ (Toyota Hiace), Suzuki ‘dabbas’, Varan bus service etc have been operating in the city. Higher CNG buses are the new guests in town.

You might have heard about the new bus “Higher CNG Bus”. This bus service has just been started in Rawalpindi as the local transport bus. Yesterday I had the experience to travel in that.

I and my friend were waiting for the van when returning from our university, and we saw that bus coming to the stop. My friend told me that that bus travels very slowly and we would not be able to reach homes in time. But I felt excited to sit in the bus and so we entered into it. It was a very long big bus with auto doors. The glass windows were wide and large. To add more there were air conditioners and heater. There was an eighteen inch TV fixed for the passengers with DVD drive and a six inch TV fixed in the dash board for the driver. Moreover and to your astonishment, there was a mike system for the conductor to address the passengers. Like the bus, the rent was higher than the other transport.

You would think that this is really fantastic but NOOOO…. The bus traveled very slowly and even before reaching the other stop, the CNG in the bus finished and the bus stopped with jerks. Ohhhh! .What we had thought of it! And what it came out!

The driver said that he had not checked the gas before starting. Though there were only seven passengers in the whole bus, the conductor announced on the mike that they have called for the other bus and it would just be arriving. We waited in the bus for about fifteen minutes and then fed up. We asked him to return our money. At first he was not willing to pay the money back and insisted to sit in the bus till the other comes, but when we show our rage he gave up. He returned half of the ticket money, took the ticket back and let us go.

We then made a promise to ourselves for never ever sitting in the “Higher CNG Bus” again!