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Posted On: 2 July 2008 09:14 am
Updated On: 12 November 2020 02:08 pm

Mowasalat Buses are an embarassment

Khalifa  Al Haroon
Khalifa Al Haroon
Your friendly neighborhood Qatari
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Many Mowasalat bus drivers issue tickets selectively and speak rudely to passengers who insist on purchasing tickets, some passengers have alleged. “They choose whom to issue tickets based on the passenger's destination. If the passenger is commuting a short distance, some drivers won't normally issue a ticket. If he is off to Al Ghanim bus terminal a bus driver will surely issue a ticket for fear of inspectors coming along the way," one commuter told The Peninsula. Another passenger alleged that buses sometimes would not halt at bus stations leaving commuters waiting in the hot sun. “Some drivers even take short-cuts and not follow the usual routes unconcerned of the passengers waiting at bus stations for long for a bus that wouldn't come,” he added. A number of passengers however allege that bus drivers resort to such practices because of the meagre salary they receive. "Mowasalat announced that our salaries would be raised by QR50 this September, however they are also increasing the laundry charge by QR15," a driver said. Commiserating with the drivers' plight, a passenger said that he intentionally does not obtain ticket to help the drivers make both ends meet. "If an inspector checks for my ticket, I tell him I did not ask for it and just pay him the penalty," he said. Meanwhile, a driver of bus route number 49 who issued an old ticket to a passenger was booked by a bus inspector on Sunday night, this reporter witnessed. Upon examining the tickets of each passenger, the inspector found out that a passenger who boarded the bus from Lulu Hypermarket was holding a ticket which was issued in Al Sadd. The Pen