AFTER over six years since the project was launched, Karachi got its second multicoloured bus rapid transit line to chug off on Saturday. The Orange Line, named in honour of iconic social worker Abdul Sattar Edhi, will ferry commuters over a stretch measuring nearly four kilometres between Orangi Town and North Nazimabad. It follows the launch of the Green Line BRTS that hit the road in January of this year, connecting Karachi’s northern suburbs with Numaish, the gateway to the city’s commercial area. However, both the Orange and Green lines were massively behind schedule, while in the case of the latter the cost ballooned to double the Rs16.85bn original estimate. Yet in a city where the public transport system is highly inadequate for the needs of a modern, bustling metropolis, we must be thankful for these small mercies.

The federal government, which planned and executed the Green Line, and the Sindh administration, which is responsible for constructing the Orange Line, must not rest on their ‘laurels’ and speed up work on the other bus corridors. Work is underway on the Red Line, while the Blue, Yellow and Brown lines are still on the drawing board. Meanwhile, a modernised Karachi Circular Railway, or an alternative commuter train system, remain the stuff of dreams. The Sindh government has launched a Peoples Bus Service, but there are serious questions about the reliability and punctuality of this facility. The fact that the megacity of Karachi — or as some have put it, a conglomeration of cities — has for decades not had a modern transport system is criminal, and both the federal and Sindh governments are equally guilty of the sin of neglecting this forsaken metropolis. Citizens should not be happy with the status quo — a bus line every decade or so, rickety buses and ‘Qingqis’ for a city of millions. They must demand that the rulers give this city a 21st century public transport system that puts emphasis on comfort, affordability, connectivity and dignity.

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2022