Tired of the substandard public transport system of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, the women of the twin cities have taken upon themselves to find affordable and speedy way of reaching their destinations through motorcycles.
It all started from Lahore where the local traffic police started giving free motorcycle riding training to women, encouraging them to take control of an existing mode of transport that women have ignore for so long in Pakistan. Some brave girls took the initiative and now regularly use motorbikes to reach their day to day destinations.
The trend has now followed Islamabad and Rawalpindi. A college student, Asma, can often be seen around the F6 sector riding her brother’s motorcycle.
Asma’s mother is a widow and it isn’t cost effective for them to take a taxi every time they need to reach somewhere. This is led her to taking control of a bike. Now she can take her mother to the bank, hospital and grocery store etc easily even in this hot weather.
The motor cycle belongs to Asma’s brother who was hesitant at first to let her sister use his bike. But after realizing how tormenting local transport can be, he didn’t think twice. Even Asma’s mother is happy that her daughter has taken this step. She feels proud that now Asma can get to work without the ordeal of using public transport and at the same time save money on fuel consumption and taxi fares.
Several other girls have also taken the initiative which includes Afshan, another young girl from the twin cities who can be seen riding a scooty in the G 11 sector of Islamabad.
Public relations officer of Motorway Police, Mr. Javed has said that if women are interested, they are more than willing to offer free training at the driving schools of Islamabad.