KARACHI, June 8: Millions of Karachi commuters continue to suffer as the authorities balk at solving the chronic public transport problem of this megacity.

At a quick glance at the public transport problem of Karachi appears quite complicated. There are a host of committees and forums of experts and technocrats to come up with a handy solution to this enigma.

There might be 101 ways to resolve this issue, but the basic facts are very simple. According to government sources as many as 40 passengers vie for a single bus seat. In other words for every bus or minibus running on Karachi roads there is a need to add 39.

The commuters suffer only because these 39 required buses are nowhere. They are forced to travel crammed in buses like sheep and goats. They have to travel on footboards and rooftops because the mighty lobby of transporters does not want more buses on roads so that this '40 passengers to one seat' ratio persists.

Simply speaking, a nexus of bureaucracy and transporters is bent to block entry of new players into the arena. Thus despite favourable conditions and good margin of profit, the flow of new investment in the public transport sector is successfully blocked.

Karachi is probably the only megacity of the region where commuters suffer unbearable agonies and humiliation daily while travelling in overloaded, shabby, smoke-emitting and dangerously running buses and minibuses, while the authorities look the other way.

Commuters are also consumers, and like other consumers their rights could be only safeguarded when there is a fair competition in the market. The scandalous closure of the Karachi Circular Railway and the Karachi Transport Corporation has closed all doors of healthy competition and given a free hand to the transporters to call shots, leaving the commuters of this most educated city of the country to bear the brunt.

To solve the problems of the commuters need a fair competition. This means more new routes and more new public transport vehicles. Karachi does not need minibuses and coaches, it needs wide-bodied buses as one bus can carry the load of three minibuses.

Recently, a new bus route, 11-A, from Pehlwan Goth (Gulistan-i-Johar) to Tower has been introduced and it is providing a lot of relief to the residents of Gulistan-i-Johar. This is just one example. In Karachi, there are hundreds of routes on which minibus and coach owners enjoy monopoly, thanks to their connections in the bureaucratic circles. These city areas require hundreds of new bus routes. If the promised brand-new buses of the urban transport schemes come, it will be a great relief for the commuters.

In the past, some noises were made at the transport department regarding solving problems of poor commuters, but now even these gentle voices are not being heard.

In order to provide an urgent and visible relief to Karachi commuters, the basic requirement is a strong political will. Tall claims and hollow statements would not serve. In fact citizens are now fed up with mere slogans. If the authorities really want to give the Karachiites a respectable and disciplined public transport system, they would sooner or later have to swallow the bitter pill and display a strong political will.

The fate of recent drive against smoke-emitting public transport vehicles showed that the transporter lobby is too strong and fully knows how to manipulate the administration.—PPI