KARACHI: The fast crumbling city infrastructure, poor road conditions and damaged thoroughfares following a few spells of monsoon rains have started taking toll on the recently launched Peoples Bus Service as in less than two months of its launch, the Sindh government has compelled to suspend its one route, cut short another and faces a serious challenge in completing the journey of its third route after several parts of the road are no longer ‘motorable’.

The already dilapidated roads in the metropolis got further damaged after the rains which destroyed the sewerage system and left thousands of potholes on main arteries.

Due to this “a sizable number” of the total of 90 buses plying on Karachi roads under the Peoples Bus Service programme were parked in the depot for the past few weeks, according to sources in the Sindh Mass Transit Authority.

“The damage came to the very first route of the project launched in June,” said an official. “The Route-1 covers the distance from Model Colony to Tower via Sharea Faisal,” he added.

A considerable number of buses have been parked at depot for past few weeks

“For the last almost one month, the route has been cut short. The buses, which were used to make their last stop at Model Colony Phatak [railway crossing], now stop at Model Mor — some four to five kilometres before the original route. It is because the recent rains have almost ruined the Liaquat Ali Khan Road in Model Colony. The road, which was already in a bad condition, has become worse after fresh downpours,” he said.

Similarly, he said, the Route-3 between North Nazimabad to Korangi Industrial Area had been suspended and its buses were parked in the depot after the roads were not ‘motorable’.

The underpasses on the route, he said, were no longer used by vehicles and the same reason also led to a decision by the management of the Peoples Bus Service to suspend the route “for time being”.

“On another route, which carries passengers between North Karachi to Indus Hospital [Korangi], the drivers face serious challenges at one point in Korangi 3½ where the road condition doesn’t allow the bus to move ahead,” said the official.

“The situation is very serious and the management is not sure how long it could continue on this route under these circumstances. These are actually low-floor buses and cannot be run on damaged roads.”

It was the last week of June when Foreign Minister and Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari had inaugurated the Peoples Bus Service launching its first route.

The Sindh transport department since then had launched five routes of the service in Karachi and one in Larkana.

Although better late than never, the service was widely welcomed and seen as a relief to some extent for Karachiites yearning for better transport facilities for nearly three decades.

However, the poor road infrastructure of the city for which the PPP government often comes under criticism of the opposition has put serious dent to the fresh initiative.

“The government very much realises the problem and Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah has already directed Transport & Mass Transit Authority to coordinate with the local government department to repair the roads of all the routes of Peoples Bus Service so that it could operate smoothly and properly,” said a transport department official.

“The PPP government has already allocated Rs5 billion for repair and maintenance of roads and sewerage system of the metropolis in addition to a grant of Rs1.5bn to repair damaged roads on the routes of the Peoples Bus Service.”

Published in Dawn, August 21st, 2022