KARACHI: Country’s largest metropolitan is facing a serious collapse of its public transport sector as commuters were paying more for travelling within the city.
The president of the Karachi Transport Ittehad (KTI) Irshad Bukhari told Daily Times that on the city’s 150 official bus routes only 20 are currently being operated; while mini-buses routes reduced have from 500 to 150 only. “Transporters do not considered operating buses a lucrative venture due to low fares and the law and order situation which has gripped the metropolis during last many years,” he added.
Interestingly, a promise was made during 2013 election campaign by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for building a metro bus system similar to Lahore. But unfortunately a similar metro bus system was built in Rawalpindi-Islamabad, not in Karachi.
An errant commuter, Danish Qureshi told this scribe that he lived at the end of North Karachi and his office is situated at Kashif Centre at Shahrah Faisal. “It takes me over three hours to reach office on daily basis, due to absence of efficient public transport system in the city.”
“It is a serious concern for commuters but the prevalent authorities are not paying any attention to such a serious issue, he added, “Why these buses are on city roads without proper vehicle fitness tests”.
Karachi had a perfect public transport system comprising of the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) and the Karachi Transport Corporation (KTC) both catering to the transport needs of the metropolis. But wrong policies and bad political situation has forcibly closed it down.