KARACHI: The high metallic maroon coach crossing the traffic intersection at M.A. Jinnah Road bears the name ‘Geo Chishti Baba Business Class’. It’s the ‘Business Class’ part that makes one sit up to catch a glimpse of the passengers on the bus. A little girl blinks back as she looks down at you from her window seat, a little boy, even younger than the girl, is seated behind her and you can only see middle-aged unshaven grumpy faces looking out from most of the other windows.

Intercity buses these days are coming with some cool and catchy names to make bus travel akin to air travel. Outside the Cantonment Railway Station you also find many bearing the name ‘Makka’. The transporter might not have realised that ‘Mecca’ is spelt with double ‘c’ but luckily neither do the travellers as long as you pronounce the name correctly. It seems like a blessed bus service as the name has clicked and there is a long queue before the transporter’s window.

Many people, who fail to get a seat on any of the trains at the Railway Station then come running to the transporters. The fares most of the time are even more than Pakistan Railways, but still people are willing to pay as long as they reach their destination safely and comfortably.

Traveller says train journeys are very problematic

“At least we have good highways. Our roads are better than the old railways tracks and infrastructure. Quite honestly, I’m afraid of travelling by train anymore. The only thing that is not that great about bus travel is that one needs to get down to use a bathroom. Trains have washrooms in them. But at least there is a lesser risk to my life on a bus,” said Mohammad Shakir boarding a bus to Sialkot. He said that he had paid Rs3,500 as fare to the transporter. “It would have been cheaper by train, I think around Rs1,900 but it is fine. I will reach my destination on time at least,” he added.

Rukhsana, a female passenger about to board an early morning inter-city bus from Qayyumabad reached the makeshift bus terminal on a motorcycle with her husband carrying her suitcase in front, between him and the bike handle. Then as she waited by the bike with her luggage, he trotted up to one of the many windows selling tickets. He only bought one ticket, which he handed to his wife before helping her get on a big white bus with blue and yellow stripes.

“See, you get to buy the ticket right here before boarding the bus. There are no long lines and confusion that you see at the train stations, no buying a ticket then confirming, then finding out that train is behind schedule anyways. This time there is so much chaos at the train station that I thought of taking the bus to Lahore. At least it is reliable. Besides, my mother in Lahore was also worried about me travelling alone in a train after hearing certain things about it not safe for women. I’m going to see my mother for Eid. My husband is not coming with me,” she said.

The bus terminals see different travellers at different times of the year. Usually there are people arriving in Karachi to escape the harsh winter up North. Or there are people here trying to escape the hot Karachi summer to go to cooler places. But around Eid time everyone is in a rush to find the quickest and safest and also reasonably costing means of travel to get to their loved ones.

Published in Dawn, July 9th, 2022