Buses experience a huge influx of passengers

Karachi, the country’s biggest urban metropolis, routinely experiences huge intercity and interprovincial movement of people during the holiday season, on the occasion of Eidul Fitr. This had to be restricted under pandemic-related protocols of yesteryear.

However, now that the city is fully open and movement is not curtailed, the people of Karachi, many of whom have been waiting for two years to spend the holiday with their families, have once again started thronging local bus stations and hustling for a ticket, in absence of adequate special Eid trains. Seeing the increased demand for transit and lack of options, various bus services have allegedly shot their prices up by 30 to 40 per cent, offering extortionate rates to desperate commuters.

In this regard, the Department of Transportation has reprimanded various bus operators, reminding them to not exploit the free market. Per Lee Market Intercity Bus Station Secretary John Baloch, much of the rush at bus stations is due to the fact that intercity and interprovincial transport had been majorly restricted during the previous two Eids. “This is for the first time that people are free to move without any restrictions. So while people are racing to meet their families, bus services are also trying to make up for the 30 to 40 per cent of losses they incurred under Covid-19 protocols,” he opined.

Wazir Khan, who works at an inter-provincial bus stop at Sohrab Goth, while addressing the influx of passengers said that pre-bookings have been halted at his terminal owing to the incredible demand for intercity and interprovincial transport. “Tickets are now only available on a first come first serve basis. The minimum fare for intercity or interprovincial bus is Rs200-Rs300, while midrange fares somewhere between Rs400 to Rs600, and long-distance routes are charged between Rs700 to Rs1,000 or more, depending on the operator and quality of service,” he told.

Talking about the observance of coronavirus-related SOPs, Shakir Ahmed, an employee of the Yousuf Goth bus stand informed that the requirements of face-masking and social distancing were thrown to the wind in intercity and interprovincial buses as soon as the government removed the travel bans. “No one bothers checking for vaccination cards anymore. Coronavirus is now a thing of the past, it seems,” the employee commented.

Addressing the surcharges imposed on outbound buses from Karachi, he said that it is because most of these buses are being loaded from Karachi, while the number of people returning is not enough. Per Ahmed, this makes it difficult for bus operators to justify overheads such as fuel consumption and air conditioning expenses. “However, the fluctuation in ticket prices is mostly by small bus operators and not the bigger bus services that have set rates. Even though most people now prefer traveling by air-conditioned buses, the non-air-conditioned smaller buses are experiencing a rush of passengers owing to the sheer volume of commuters in comparison to the transport options available for them,” the station worker added.

In this regard, the Intercity Bus Association’s chief Riaz Malik has claimed there although there is a lot of traffic on inter-city, and inter-provincial buses, not all bus operators have been levying a surcharge. “This is inaccurate information,” he asserted. Addinthiswhich, the provincial chief minister’s advisor has said that the transport department has advised inter-city and inter-provincial bus operators to not charge extra fares during Eidul Fitr. “The department is pursuing legal action against bus owners who are flouting the government recommendation, in coordination with the district administration, and this action will continue,” he told The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 3^rd, 2022.