By Shujauddin Qureshi
The inauguration of the Inter-District People’s Bus Service is a welcome decision for the people of Karachi (and Larkana). The ruling Pakistan People’s Party Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari inaugurated the new People’s Bus Service in Karachi on June 27, 2022, which would ply on Route-1 from Model Colony to Merryweather Tower (29.5 kilometres).
The people of Karachi have been suffering due to the absence of any effective transport system. The decades-old private buses, min-buses and so-called coaches have failed to provide any relief to commuters. Even the circular railway system is non-functional in the city and there is no progress in initiating it again.
As reported by the Sindh Mass Transit Authority, these buses have a capacity of 30 seats along with 2 seats for the disabled. Thus it can manage to accommodate almost 75 people (others would be able to stand). As per the authority, these buses will also ply on six other routes in Karachi and in Larkana as well.
A total of 140 buses have arrived for the People’s Bus Service, out of which 130 will be used for Karachi city, while 10 have been sent to Larkana, where they will cover a 10.3 km route starting from Larkana Bus Terminal to Larkana Junction Via Indus Highway.
For Karachi, 130 buses are not enough for a population of over 22 million. According to the Sindh government, more buses would arrive, which would be started on more routes. The current 7 routes are as follows:
New Bus Service
Citizens of Karachi have been facing the worst problem of transport as decades-old faulty buses, mini-buses and so-called couches (similar to mini-buses) are plying on some routes in the city, with small numbers of vehicles. These rusted vehicles run by private transporters are unable to cater to the needs of the most of population, who have to use multi-seater rickshaws, commonly known as chingchi rickshaws(not two-wheeler rickshaws) to cover short distances to reach their workplaces in the city. This rickshaw type of transport is very congested and uneasy for common citizens, especially women passengers who commute to offices or markets on a daily basis.
It is a matter of fact that due to a bad track record and widespread corruption and inefficiency of the Sindh government public transport buses should not face the same fate as previous transport services in the public sector the past. Pl. note People bus service with CNG buses was also started a few years back (2019) in Karachi; all those buses vanished within months and currently, no such buses are on the roads.
When the new buses started plying on some routes, people hoped that more buses would be brought on routes to ease the public from the decades-old transport system.
The federal government-funded bus rapid transit (BRT) 26 km Green Line has already started in the city, which is covering the route from Numaish to Surjani Town via North Nazimabad. Another provincial government-funded Abdul Sattar Edhi Line (Orange Line) BRT would soon start covering 3.88 km from Town Municipality Administration (TMA), Orangi to KDA Roundabout North Nazimabad, Karachi.
Moreover, work on the first phase of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded Red-line BRT has also started in the city, which would cover 26.6 km. The first phase will start from Tank Chowk near Malir to Safoora Chowrangi. In the second phase, the Redline BRT would cover the entire University Road and would be connected with Greenline at Numaish. The main thing for Redline BRT is the buses of Red Line service in Karachi would be based on a hybrid power by diesel and biogas (a special type of fuel extracted from cow dung). According to reports, a state-of-the-art biogas plant, spanning 31 acres, will be set up in Cattle (Bhens) Colony in Malir District.
All pics are taken from the Twitter account of Sindh Mass Transit Authority (@SMTA_GoS)