Rationalizing mass transit

At the time of economic meltdown, it is a populist gimmick to launch Rs10 billion mass transit system in Karachi. To deny a city of about thirty million people a mass transit system is nothing short of a crime on the part of the provincial government.

The Sindh government’s initiative of People’s Bus Service needs to be seen against this background. Sharjeel Inam Memon, Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit, has announced that a number of buses have arrived in Karachi and Larkana.

Initially, the service commenced at two routes and later more than seven routes have come into operation covering most parts of the city. The number of buses will be increased to 250 and more. Reports indicate that all the 250 buses have been procured from China for Rs 6.5 billion rupees and Rs 4 billion more will be required to complete the project.

According to official data, this bus service will generate 3,000 jobs which means that more than 10 people will be working for a bus. The ratio is not good to start with and shows that the project is not smart enough to sustain.

The feedback from the public is also very much mixed. While some haggle with the conductors on fares and location of bus stops, others see this as a safe commute for travellers. Since the service is still struggling with the initial phase, things have not been mapped out properly. There are times when floors and terminals are littered with rubbish. There is also no proper system to guide the passengers as to where they should head to or how long they have to wait for the bus.

The Facebook and Twitter accounts of People’s Bus Service are highly politicized. Nothing other than praises for the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) can be found there. The concept of such pages is to facilitate the customers and not to indulge in political propaganda. The same thing was witnessed when Metro Bus was launched in Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi.

During a class discussion, a student asked the professor how Bangladesh was able to leave Pakistan behind in the race for development and progress. One of the answers was that because Bangladesh did not waste money on building motorways and metro services.

Now that People’s Bus Service has been launched, the question about its sustainability is of paramount importance. If it is overstaffed as projected by the Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA), its fate will be worse than Pakistan International Airline (PIA).

In the past, Naimatullah Khan, a Karachi mayor from Jamaat-e-Islami brought over 30 buses to lay down a mass transit system. Those buses are now rotting at a forgotten place, because they were not sustainable. After him, Mustafa Kamal, the city’s mayor from MQM, brought in over 70 CNG buses, but no one was ever able to maintain them and, hence, they vanished. Now Sharjeel Memon from PPP has brought these red buses and one fears that they may also meet the same fate.

People’s Bus Service needs to learn from Metro Bus Service in Punjab. First of all, there is no point in putting up the costly fence up around its track. Second, the system has to be automated so that people could have cards to swipe for travel. The ticketing app for People’s Bus Service needs to be more active.

Professor Dr. Zaman, the founding chairman of the Department of Sociology at Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), is leading a mega project for mass transit and road safety.

After fuel price hikes, the German government has given subsidy on mass transit system. “Time was when you could travel on trains easily. Now they are always overloaded and you could get your tickets cancelled shortly before you plan to board,” Dr Zaman tells me, “But it has reduced air pollution and saved people from affording lavish vehicles.”

Pakistan is amongst the countries with the highest number of buses and other vehicles in the world. “Logically, we are not supposed to have mass transit problem. But the problem arose because of political dishonesty,” he says.

Political dishonesty comes in the way of pooling these buses to put in place a mass transit system. There was no reason to buy buses from anywhere for People’s Bus Service as these buses have always been, there at government offices and with private operators. Only universities and colleges have hundreds of buses in Karachi. If they are pooled, they can fulfil needs of these universities and colleges and also of the entire city.

Prof. Zaman adds, “There has to be a bus after every five minutes at every stop with a distance of 500 meters. Where buses cannot reach, small vehicles should be engaged. But the government has to do it. If it succeeds in doing it using its available resources, it will be justified in putting levies on fuel prices and imposing other taxes.”

Hence, we will be running in small circles as long as we do not get down to making the maximum use of our available resources. The People’s Bus Service is a good step, but having it at a cost of billions of rupees is not advisable when we could easily cut costs instead of overspending.

The writer teaches mediatization at IIUI