Critics question government’s transportation strategy as Karachi prepares for new bus service in August

This photo taken on July 17, 2018 shows Pakistani residents travelling on an overloaded passenger bus in Karachi. (AFP)

• The country’s most densely populated metropolis has been facing transportation challenges after a drastic decline in the number of private buses
• Experts say the new mass transit system will only benefit seven to eight percent of the city’s population

KARACHI: Authorities in Pakistan’s southern Sindh province said on Tuesday the country’s most densely populated megacity of Karachi would get the Green Line section of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service next month, though experts claimed the completion of the project launched in 2016 was not likely to resolve the transportation woes of the people.
“The federal government-funded Green Line BRT project will become operational in August,” Governor Sindh Imran Ismail said during a news conference in Karachi, adding the modern mass transit system would be launched by Prime Minister Imran Khan himself.
He added that the buses for the Green Line service had been manufactured in China and were “likely to reach Karachi by August 15.”
The Pakistani government announced its decision to build the 35-kilometer Green Line project on February 26, 2016, as the first phase of the Karachi Metrobus Network to address the transportation problems of the city’s residents. A spokesperson of the Sindh governor told Arab News that 80 buses were planned to be used for the Green Line service.
“While it is good that the project will soon become operational, the fact is that this and other transportation corridors will only facilitate about seven to eight percent of the population. A chunk of the city’s residents will continue to remain deprived of a comfortable transportation option even when all seven corridors become functional,” Dr. Noman Ahmed, professor and dean of the faculty of architecture and management sciences at the NED University, told Arab News.
“Karachi had a good transport system comprising of public and private buses. There was also a circular railway that was functional,” he continued, adding that new buses were not added to the old system and instead its various routes were canceled.
President of Karachi Transport Ittehad Syed Irshad Hussain Shah Bukhari said about 25,000 buses were operational on different routes of the city in 2009, but the system had completely collapsed, and people were left with no option but to pay more money to ride auto-rikshaws and taxi services.
“Just a decade ago, we had 25,000 buses running on over 700 routes that covered every part of the city,” he said. “But that time is long gone. At the moment, we have about 300 buses operating on just about 50 routes and we have no hope of the revival of the old system.”
Dr. Ahmed suggested the revival of the private sector to fix the city’s transportation issues and facilitate a greater number of its residents.
“The cost of constructing these seven corridors has exceeded Rs170 billion,” he noted. “Could we not have conceived an alternative system before spending such an exorbitant amount of money only to facilitate seven to eight percent of Karachi’s population?”