KARACHI, June 14: The Public Transport and Communication Department is in constant touch with the inter-cities bus associations for the shifting of their bus terminuses from congested areas of the city to it outskirts.

“Movement and parking of these long-distance buses is a permanent nuisance and people of the areas around their terminuses are facing a lot of problems,” Mr Athar, District Officer of the department told PPI when asked to comment if any progress was made in the city government’s plan to move these terminuses to the outskirts of the metropolis.

“We are doing our level best to persuade the associations to shift their business as part of the plan to provide relief to the affected people and ensure road safety,” he added.

He pointed out that under the plan, four depots of the now defunct KTC had been proposed to be designated as inter-cities bus terminuses. They are located in Site, North Nazimabad, Malir Halt and Gulistan Jauhar. A summary has already been sent to provincial governments for the custody of the depots but the city government has received no response to the request, he added.

A survey, conducted by the Traffic Engineering Bureau, indicates that unnecessary movement of the majority of up-country route buses in the city limits contribute greatly to traffic jams at various places. It finds that after entering the city limits from other cities, most of these buses have a small number of passengers and sometimes no passenger.

They TEB had suggested that inter-city bus service operators be provided facilities at the entry/exit points of the city on Super Highway, National Highway and RCD Highway. However, no action has so far been taken to restrict the movement of the buses to the points and disallow their unnecessary movement on city roads.

Besides creating parking problems by occupying a wide area at every terminal outside the offices of the transport service operators, these buses have been regarded as an added misery to the general public as numerous other problems, including air and noise pollution, are associated with their presence and movement in the city.

Many of these terminuses are located in congested and densely populated areas like Banaras Chowk, Lea Market, Taj Complex, Cantonment Station, Patel Para, Dawood Chowrangi, old Sabzi Mandi, etc. and their movement cause jams on major and busy thoroughfares like M. A. Jinnah Road and University Road.

Due to maintenance of the vehicles at the place where they are parked, a lot of garbage, diesel, oil and filth could be seen scattered in the entire area around these terminuses creating unhygienic atmosphere in the residential and commercial localities. Smoke emission from these vehicles also pollutes the environment posing a serious threat to the health of the residents and visitors of the areas as well as commuters.

Among other facilities near these turminuses are hospitals and clinics where patients, doctors, paramedics and visitors equally suffer due to air and noise pollution.

Yet another major problem is the attitude of the drivers of these buses who often indulge in violation of traffic rules and, thus, pose a serious threat to the lives of pedestrians and commuters.

Traffic jams, which have become order of the day, at different sections of M. A. Jinnah Road, University Road, Business Recorder Road, as well as all the arteries leading the main Lea Market intersection, are attributed mainly to the stationary up-country bound buses. — PPI