New busses for KU gathering dust

Eight new busses acquired for the students of Karachi University have been gathering dust for the past eight months because they could not be insured and registered until now.

Currently, there are only 22 buses for 43,000 students of the university, while the eight new buses acquired in February are parked on the campus.

Dr Qadeer Muhammad Ali, in-charge of transport at KU, told The Express Tribune that the Higher Education Commission had released Rs84 million for the purchase of eight busses in 2017.

At that time, one bus was costing the university Rs8.4 million, but the busses could not be purchased. The busses were acquired in Feb 2022 when the price of one bus escalated to Rs11.7 million. The finance director and the planning development director provided 15% of the funds and the busses were purchased for Rs93.6 million.

Dr Qadeer said that the university had to bear the additional cost of Rs26.4 million. However, he added that due to lack of registration and insurance, the busses could not be made operational. "We wrote a letter to the administration requesting money for regis- tration and insurance of the busses," he added.

Dr Qadeer further said that the new busses are expensive and durable, but they are gathering dust. As many as 100 busses are not sufficient for 43,000 students. "The students have to commute to the university and back home in 22 buses. One bus has a seating capacity of 63 people, but up to 200 students are crammed in one bus," he added. This means only 7% of the students have the transport facility.

He said that if the university administration adds two buses to its fleet every year, it will help students of 54 departments and 24 institutes. The city government should also be requested to provide old buses for the university, he added. A student, Waleed Ishtiaq, said that since each bus carry more students than its capacity, female students often faint while travelling in crammed busses. "Eight new busses have been gathering dust for eight months, but students have to travel in agony," he added.

Another student Sahar Abrar said that students from two residential colonies are forced to gather at one pick-drop point. Students come from Keamari, Malir, Hub, Orangi, but due to fewer busses available, most have to travel standing in the door of the bus.

The students have requested the university administration to solve this problem at the earliest so that they can easily reach their classes conveniently and on time.