KARACHI: “I come here to rest. If I need to catch a bus, I would walk to the signal at the crossing. Why would I be sitting here?” Mohammad Tariq, a pedestrian, says while seated at the bus stop near Boating Basin in Clifton.

Mohammad Ali, a waiter at one of the eateries there, says: “Have you seen our buses? They aren’t even fit to travel in. But the bus stops are nice and airy.

“I have also visited other cities of Pakistan and things aren’t as bad there as they are in Karachi. In Lahore, the bus conductors are so disciplined they don’t even open the bus doors until it has stopped at a proper bus stop. I say bring those buses with their conductors and drivers here,” he says.

Mahfooz Ahmed, another man waiting for his bus but not at any stop, said that he wished the public buses would at least stop at the designated places for two minutes. “It should be five minutes, really, but I will be happy even if they stop for two minutes at the bus stops, which never happens in Karachi.”

‘We’d rather wait here than at a bus stop!’

The commuters had a point. Bus stops in Karachi are being used for everything and serve every purpose except for what they are meant for. People come to rest there. Some of them are drug addicts or beggars looking for a place to lie down or sleep, too. Some use them for meeting places. They are used for advertising as well. People also lose their wallets and mobile phones at bus stops, where many hold-ups are carried out. A few in Karachi like the one near the PIDC traffic intersection and another near Aram Bagh have even been encroached upon by, believe it or not, the police!

Sharing his views on the issue, Irshad Bukhari, president of the Karachi Transport Ittehad, recites the famour verse by Munir Niazi: Kutch shehr de log vi zalam san/Kutch sanu maran da shauq vi si.

A police post built over a bus stop.

“See, we are indisciplined anyway and the people, too, want the buses to pick them up from anywhere on the road rather than the bus stops. Then there are also not enough bus stops in Karachi. Former city nazim Naimatullah Khan deserves credit for the few built here during his time but we need more,” he says.

Where buses keep their distance.

But when pointed out that the bus drivers don’t even stop at the ones that are there, no matter how few, he says: “Well, many are used by vendors selling guavas, apples or bananas. But yes, the bus drivers should be held responsible for not stopping at the designated stops. I do what I can but the traffic police should also take notice of this and punish them for failing to stop at the designated stops rather than anywhere in the middle of the road.”

Cars parked at a bus stop.

A place to rest.

Published in Dawn, January 4th, 2015

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