KARACHI: The carts selling fruit and other eatables, the little shops offering blankets, stoles, caps, jackets, etc, and the teashops are scattered all over the place on the bumpy dusty grounds where the big shiny intercity coaches — Waraich Tayyara, Jeeo Mithal, Shalimar Coach, Shahryar Coach, Choudhry Express, Zamindaran Green, Manthhar, Makkah Coach, Al Mumtaz, etc — are parked, some just back after a long journey, some just raring to go, all along the kilometre and a half length of the makeshift adda along the Superhighway as well as the proper bus terminals right across.

In front of the coaches there are men announcing the various stops at the top of their voices. One has never even heard of some of the towns they mention. There are also men at the many small wooden or dented unbalanced rocking steel desks, busy receiving payments before tearing out tickets from their ticket books. Luggage in the shape of crates, suitcases and even hobo bundles are being loaded onto the roof racks and carriers on top of the buses. Other luggage that people can take inside to place by their seat includes some hand baggage as well as live chickens and goats.

The Superhighway at Sohrab Goth is one of the major centres for intercity coaches from where thousands of people get on and off buses to travel all over the country the cheaper way. Other well-known makeshift terminals in Karachi are on and behind M.A. Jinnah Road, around Cantonment Railway Station and Qayyumabad.

“During winters we see more people arriving in Karachi to escape the cold weather up north. And during summers, people from Karachi get on the bus to head to cooler climates,” says Mohammad Shabbir, who is in charge of the Qayyumabad stop for an intercity coach company. “And usually you’ll see the coaches leaving Karachi in the evening and arriving in the city early morning.”

Asked who normally travels such long distances by coach, Shabbir smiles and says: “Those who are in a rush and those who may be short of money. Travelling by air is just too expensive for many. Trains these days are unreliable but the coaches are cheap as well as reliable. They leave on time and arrive on time.”

Pointing in the direction of a coach, which is about to leave, he says: “This one is leaving for Bahawalpur at 6pm and it will be at its destination at 6am. What’s more, a ticket costs only Rs700. If you take the train to Bahawalpur, it will take you 18 to 20 hours to get there and that’s not confirmed either.”

Meanwhile, Altaf Hussain, a coach driver, says that his company has stopped taking passengers to destinations in Sindh. “We go directly to Punjab, no stopping in Hyderabad, Nawabshah, Sukkur or anywhere else in Sindh. Most of our passengers are poor Saraiki gardeners, maids and other domestic servants, who come to Karachi to earn their livelihood,” he says.

When asked the reason for not taking passengers to cities in Sindh even though they fall in the way, the driver says that just six months ago they took a few passengers for Sukkur, who kept calling someone about their whereabouts on the way and then the coach was stopped suddenly by a group of dacoits who cleaned out everyone before getting off along with the passengers who had been giving the directions.

Asked what about the many salespersons, selling attar or snacks, who may get on and get off wherever they please, the driver says those are not dacoits. “They are poor people looking to sell stuff to passengers. We don’t even charge them for travelling with us as they only get on at one terminal to get off at the next stop. Besides, they are familiar faces, we know them and they mean no harm,” the driver says.

And do the coaches make any unplanned stops? “Well, only if any passengers, especially women, need to use the restroom. Then we do make a stop at a fuel station to let them use the facilities,” the driver explains.

About the luggage on top of the bus one wonders if anything ever gets lost on the way. The driver laughs. “Well, we have everything securely tied there but sometimes there are mix-ups, like someone getting off first and walking off with someone else’s bag, which may look similar. We are bound to pay for the damage then and we do. Women passengers, especially, get very mad if something like this happens,” he shares.

Meanwhile, a passenger comes running out of breath to the man selling the tickets informing him that he missed his bus. The adda incharge then quickly arranges a ride for him on a city bus heading towards Sohrab Goth. “Please don’t miss your coach at Sohrab Goth now,” he says to him before he departs.

There are all sorts of intercity coaches. Some are big and some not so spacious and some are air-conditioned or heated while others are not. The best among all, arguably, is Daewoo Pakistan Express Service. “There is the Daewoo service and then the Daewoo make. Not having much experience travelling by coach I had accidentally boarded a Daewoo bus but the service was terrible and then I realised that only the bus was made by the Daewoo company, hence the monogram at the front, it wasn’t the actual bus service,” says Aziz Khan, an unhappy traveller.

At the Daewoo office, the staff is busy checking people’s luggage before storing and securing it in the big luggage compartment of the coach underneath. “There are separate regulations for the cargo and hand luggage, of course. You can’t carry liquids and raw meat or fish in the bus if you are travelling with us and most certainly not live animals!” says Mohammad Waseem at the Daewoo centre near Cantt Station.

Maintaining good standards also means higher fare, from Rs2,600 to Rs4,300 depending on the distance. The coach makes several stops — from Karachi to Hyderabad, Moro, Sukkur, Pano Aqil, Daharki, Chowk Bahadur Pur, Bahawalpur, Multan, Jhang, Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Azad Kashmir and Mirpur.

Iman Junejo, a student of class seven, and her mother, Mukhtiar Junejo, arrive at the Daewoo office inquiring about tickets. They want to go to Rawapindi before Iman’s holidays end and Pakistan Railways just informed them that no seats were available before Dec 28. “My holidays end on Jan 5. I wanted to enjoy my time off in Pindi,” the child shares. The man at the counter smiles as he nods before making their bookings. Bon voyage!

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2015