Daily Times

Mardan roads in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will go pink from Thursday when the women-only pink buses ply local routes from April 4. This is good news for the womenfolk of the district who do not get many chances to travel, mainly, due to their conservative lifestyle, and, especially, due to the lack of public transport on local routes. Those operational also serve more to male passengers, leaving a little room for women. The Trans Peshawar Company is to run the service; the operator might be apprehensive about the success of the project because of the paucity of women passengers for such projects have a few buyers even in cities like Lahore and Islamabad, but with better facilities, and patience, the project can be on the road to success. The project will generate women mobilization resulting in the visibility of women at public places. Confident and empowered women will rule the roads.

The project, funded by the United Nations Office on Project Services, was to hit the roads last year, but officialdom delayed it for one reason or another. Under the project, the United Nations Office on Project Services delivered 14 pink buses worth Rs100 million to the provincial government for piloting in Mardan and Abbottabad districts. Mardan women are lucky to see the buses soon, whereas those in Abbotabad will have to wait for some weeks. Even though officials are hopeful that that the selection of the operator for Abbottabad is in final stages, the provincial government has badly missed deadlines on the projects’ inauguration. The Peshawar Rapid Transit Project is a bad example of project completion and execution. It is being said that the company awarded contract for pink buses in Mardan would get the contract for Abbottabad.

Once Mardan and Abbottabad get buses, the provincial government needs to expand the network to other districts as well. Some circles may criticise segregation of transport facilities by gender, but that ought to be ignored at this time. Decent and rapid bus operations have yet to come to our roads. Public transport and bus stops often become hangouts of pesters and harassers. Metro bus operations in Lahore, Rawalpindi/Islamabad and Multan have provided commuters with efficient and rapid bus services. These services, however, are often disapproved because of their huge cost, as the government has to spend billions on subsidies and the selective subsidy options create economic inequalities.

The government needs to come up with a viable framework which is win-win for both the bus operators and the public. Ride sharing services have notched public approval because of their pro-car owners’ and pro-ride takers’ policies. The provision of fast, decent and cheap buses is not an uphill task for the government. The only thing needed is a regulatory framework and its strict enforcement. *