Green buses turn red with rust while Karachi craves transport

KMC administrator vows to resume the service for the third time.

KARACHI:

The Karachi Metropolitan Corporation (KMC) administrator, Rauf Akhtar Farooqui, recently announced to resume the 'Green Bus' service in order to facilitate citizens and make the city's transport infrastructure a little better. What the administrator failed to explain was why the service was terminated in the first place and how the vehicles ended up in such a bad state. They were, after all, purchased with public money.

The buses in question are lying stationary at a terminal especially constructed for the purpose at Surjani Town. A visit to the terminal was a revelation in itself - 73 state-of-the-art CNG buses, their art now rusting away, stand at the compound beyond the open gates. 'Stand' is an overstatement as most do not have tyres. Others are missing their batteries or auto-parts, making them incapable of plying the roads. The only sign of life at the compound, apart from the lone employee, are the stray dogs who have found a home inside the buses.



The army of dogs and the lone KMC employee stationed at the compound are, however, not enough to scare away opportunists, who view the open gates as an invitation to take away the buses' parts and sell them on the black market.

When approached by The Express Tribune, the KMC employee stationed at the compound, Abdul Ghafoor, expressed helplessness as he looked at the sorry state of the vehicles. "Most of these vehicles are not standing on their tyres while their batteries have also been stolen by the residents of nearby areas," he said, stating the obvious. "I am the only employee stationed here while there are three to four security guards at night." These personnel are, however, not enough to guard the whole compound, he explained.

The Green Bus service was initiated in 2005, by the then-mayor of Karachi, Niamatullah Khan. The service operated till 2007 after which it was suspended for some time. In 2009, Governor Dr Ishratul Ebad, resumed the service but it was terminated once again on April 23, 2013. At the time, the service used to operate on three major routes - from Surjani Town to Safoora Goth, from Surjani Town to Korangi and from Orangi Town to Malir.

During his visit to the compound last week, the administrator assured that the service would be resumed as soon possible. "The Sindh government has approved Rs40 million for the project," he revealed. Initially, 36 buses will be made operational and will ply two routes - from Surjani Town to Korangi and from Surjani Town to Tower.

Need of the hour

The transport authority has welcomed the decision to resume the service as they feel the city is in desperate need of appropriate means of public transport. The Regional Transport Authority superintendent Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto told The Express Tribune that not a single new route permit had been issued in the last three to four years. Seeing the urban sprawl in the city and the way it is expanding, Bhutto was of the belief that the bus service was the need of the hour. "Karachi's roads have been choked by Qingqi rickshaws and the large number of private vehicles," he said. "This service would reduce congestion as people will rather travel in these buses than brave the city's traffic."

Behind the scenes

Notwithstanding the official rhetoric, however, KMC's CBA union president Zulfiqar Ali Shah revealed three factors that caused the service to discontinue the first two times. "The transport mafia, extortion mafia and corrupt officials within the KMC were primarily responsible for the discontinuation of the service," he explained.  The transport mafia does not want the service to operate as it provides a cheaper alternative, which means they cannot charge higher fares.



In essence, the service is bad for competition. According to Shah, the KMC officials merely want to run a media campaign to show they sincerely wish to re-start the service, so they can fill their pockets with the funds. "They have no money to pay the employees' salaries," he said. "How can they run the service with no money?"

Published in The Express Tribune, April 10^th, 2014.