Can private ride-hailing services solve the commute crisis in Pakistan?

[Pakhtoon yum]

You said 100% what I was going to say!!

No more gimics.

Time to develop a 50 year plan of building Subways.

The tokyo system needs to be adopted for Karachi and Lahore.

 

[Dubious]

Cause the metro only runs in one direction lmao. For a mass transit system to be effective it needs to reach each and every corner of the city. One metro line isnt enough

Exactly my point...
With SUCH an expensive investment and the product is BY DESIGN faulty...It is a clear case of waste of money!

The 2 I have actually used:
The ISB metro doesnt touch many points!
The Multan metro doesnt either! - Just the uni and cantt...Everything in between is causing congestion to the traffic due to the large pillars which have become a safe heaven to sell fruits with tons of dust and particles from moving cars!

Govt would have to keep subsidizing metro

This will only harm OUR economy!

Hence why I said and repeat...The metro was a waste BY DESIGN...not the concept of a metro but the design itself!

Electric subway systems

1) We have electric crisis
2) If we want a subway/ underground...I am not sure how feasible it is to dig under a city without causing damage! Let alone the cost of the machinery needed to dig under a city!

 

[Pakhtoon yum]

Exactly my point...
With SUCH an expensive investment and the product is BY DESIGN faulty...It is a clear case of waste of money!

The 2 I have actually used:
The ISB metro doesnt touch many points!
The Multan metro doesnt either! - Just the uni and cantt...Everything in between is causing congestion to the traffic due to the large pillars which have become a safe heaven to sell fruits with tons of dust and particles from moving cars!


This will only harm OUR economy!

Hence why I said and repeat...The metro was a waste BY DESIGN...not the concept of a metro but the design itself!


1) We have electric crisis
2) If we want a subway/ underground...I am not sure how feasible it is to dig under a city without causing damage! Let alone the cost of the machinery needed to dig under a city!

1) energy will be solved in a few years, with surplus
2) there are machines that dig and create the concrete walls as it digs. Completely safe.

 

[Dubious]

there are machines that dig and create the concrete walls as it digs. Completely safe.

Have you read up how much it costs?

Read up about London underground system and how expensive it is to maintain!

 

[313ghazi]

Every single metro is a waste of time. What we should have is dedicated bus lanes, much cheaper to setup, you can put them everywhere, they could be traffic light controlled to allow normal traffic to use them at non peak times.

We also need to consider where our offices and industries are. They don't all need to be in the centre of the city. We should have business parks and small industrial estates. Each should be well served by public transport.

Car sharing should be incentivised at peak times, and in city centres, tax breaks offered for cycling and remote working.

 

[Zulfiqar]

Exactly my point...
With SUCH an expensive investment and the product is BY DESIGN faulty...It is a clear case of waste of money!

The 2 I have actually used:
The ISB metro doesnt touch many points!
The Multan metro doesnt either! - Just the uni and cantt...Everything in between is causing congestion to the traffic due to the large pillars which have become a safe heaven to sell fruits with tons of dust and particles from moving cars!


This will only harm OUR economy!

Hence why I said and repeat...The metro was a waste BY DESIGN...not the concept of a metro but the design itself!

Considering the budget that they had ISB metro was planned just OK. You could either spread the network in RWP and forget ISB or create a network that in future can be integrated with other networks (such as they are doing now). They could have improved it by linking it with a feeder bus network though.

Moreover, they could not spread it in RWP Cantt area owing to security and other reasons. Similar I believe is the case in LHR as i did not see metro flowing through LHR cantt.

RWP already has ample public transport channels (although of poor quality). ISB lacks that and it was vital to connect the main areas that have offices with population in pindi as majority of the low-mid cadre staff lives outside ISB and metro offers them a chance to move easily between RWP-ISB.

Metro in satellite town RWP to Sadr area is a relief as it moves thousands of people between those points.

Once the second metro on kashmir highway route gets operational then it will help in moving people from adjoining wah-taxila area along with other points in pindi to ISB.

What would be left is feeder buses for F and G sector areas and for RWP cantt/,adiala,Tench Batha e.t.c

Simultaneously the govt can work on connecting population adjoining ISB expressway, Bahria and DHA.

Metro in itself is a loss making project. The only way to make it profitable is to either increase rates or have a variable pricing mechanism and coordinate bus inventory in such a way that maximizes revenue generation and offset its costs by raising car registration charges and other city taxes.

Alternative is a franchise type model with private mobility businesses using the metro lines.

Ultimately individual car ownership is not an optimal way and considering our population growth we would see an exponential growth in car ownership.

Future is EV based "mobility as a service" linked with a mass transit system.

 

[Mav3rick]

IF even after spending BILLIONS on metro, we have gaps...it is a shame!

It is sad and nothing short of poorly planned and executed! Just in the name of votes!

In Europe you have a very well PLANNED network of buses that enables people to find a bus within a walking distance to reach a train/ underground station...and most buses run those routes or you just need to change buses...

But for Pakistan you build metro on pillars so expensive and despite all that it doesnt even link ALL the important points?! The stations are far from where anyone would pick a bus!

Do you even have an idea of the population difference between Europe and Pakistan? You don't need Billions, you need Trillions to resolve the mobility issues of public mass transit system in Pakistan!

Not just that, Europeans have arrived here based on their rich culture and experience; progress through understanding that financial autonomy and stability requires peace (at borders and internally). Europe did not get here without its own set of troubles, mistakes and unrest.

Finally, the understanding amongst the masses, and possibly the leaders, that corruption is NOT the root cause of our current crises(s) but rather incompetence, interference of institutions in extrajudicial affairs, nepotism, quota over merit, an outdated and senseless education system and a ridiculous appointment system into bureaucracy (CSS exams).

If you look at Europe, the US etc., there is corruption everywhere (perhaps not at the scale which is rampant in Pakistan) and yet they still progress and stay financially healthy; it is because

1. they select the most competent resource for any and all jobs; we don't usually do that, incompetence is the quicksand which has been plaguing and dragging us down for many decades (quite possibly ever since Ayub handed over power to Yahya).
2. the institutions are truly independent, stay within their legal mandates, fiercely protect their mandates and do no take dictation; our institutions are NOT independent, they do NOT stay within their legal mandates, they fail to protect their mandates and continue to take dictation.
3. they generally have no nepotism; we have family dynasties doing the same thing, from politics to bureaucracy to military.
4. Quota over merit; they have no idea of a quota except for disabled and minorities. We have quotas which award positions to the incompetent over the deserving candidates based on their domiciles and ethnicity.
5. their education system is top class and it produces productive human beings; our education system is a joke and it produces only parrots and donkeys.
6. their bureaucratic entry is awesome; ours is a joke, a sick old joke on us.

 

[Dubious]

Do you even have an idea of the population difference between Europe and Pakistan? You don't need Billions, you need Trillions to resolve the mobility issues of public mass transit system in Pakistan!

You wouldnt have needed Trillions had this been done over the years...EVERYTHING held back is costly for the population, nation and economy!

Not just that, Europeans have arrived here based on their rich culture and experience; progress through understanding that financial autonomy and stability requires peace (at borders and internally). Europe did not get here without its own set of troubles, mistakes and unrest.

True...But how many more troubles and mistake do we need?

Cant we learn from history instead of making ourselves history?

Finally, the understanding amongst the masses, and possibly the leaders, that corruption is NOT the root cause of our current crises(s) but rather incompetence, interference of institutions in extrajudicial affairs, nepotism, quota over merit, an outdated and senseless education system and a ridiculous appointment system into bureaucracy (CSS exams).

And all this comes from lack of interest in the govt when in power...THAT itself is a form of corruption!

If you look at Europe, the US etc., there is corruption everywhere (perhaps not at the scale which is rampant in Pakistan) and yet they still progress and stay financially healthy; it is because

1. they select the most competent resource for any and all jobs; we don't usually do that, incompetence is the quicksand which has been plaguing and dragging us down for many decades (quite possibly ever since Ayub handed over power to Yahya).

Nepotism

2. the institutions are truly independent, stay within their legal mandates, fiercely protect their mandates and do no take dictation; our institutions are NOT independent, they do NOT stay within their legal mandates, they fail to protect their mandates and continue to take dictation.

Our institutions have no backbone and have no respect for the constitution...MOST of the institutions are made up or even run by goons! If not as head then along the way...infested deeply!

3. they generally have no nepotism; we have family dynasties doing the same thing, from politics to bureaucracy to military.

Yup

4. Quota over merit; they have no idea of a quota except for disabled and minorities. We have quotas which award positions to the incompetent over the deserving candidates based on their domiciles and ethnicity.

True

5. their education system is top class and it produces productive human beings; our education system is a joke and it produces only parrots and donkeys.

Not all...SOME are just money making schemes...but mostly yes!

Ours is to make factory worker mind slaves..not independent thinkers!

6. their bureaucratic entry is awesome; ours is a joke, a sick old joke on us.

Not really...But they make it work coz their laws are implemented and dont just sit as clauses in some forgotten books/ articles/ pieces of paper!

 

[Flash_Ninja]

Then what is the solution?

Problems:
Pollution
Irregular public transportation
Traffic jams
Cost of fuel
Commuting long distance


What solution do you suggest?

Trains and trams.

Cost effective and not too much infrastructure overhaul is needed (Karachi used to have trams so the roads can accomadate them)

 

[Haris Ali2140]

Private transit won't be a permanent solution but the post below shows the mindset of the Sindh Govt.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1193440736089399296

@Dubious @Jaanbaz

 

[Jaanbaz]

Private transit won't be a permanent solution but the post below shows the mindset of the Sindh Govt.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1193440736089399296

@Dubious @Jaanbaz

I once fell from a bus in Karachi while getting off because the driver was high as a kite and bus didn't seem to have working brakes, I never saw it completely stop because whenever bus driver braked the bus would lean to the side and everyone had to run to either get off or on. Human life is cheap in Pakistan and in Karachi in particular.

 

[Pakistani Fighter]

Private transit won't be a permanent solution but the post below shows the mindset of the Sindh Govt.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1193440736089399296

@Dubious @Jaanbaz

Are u sure Airlift is banned? Well I read today on ticker like some agreement have reached with Sindh govt and Airlift

 

[Dubious]

Sindh Govt

This government is a joke at best!

agreement have reached with Sindh govt and Airlift

so gunda tax?

What about the poor state of the local buses and public transports?

 

[JamD]

I think Pakistani cities do not need trains and subways or dedicated bus lanes. Those are all option B, C, or D when we haven't even tried option A. Option A is have a proper public bus network on existing roads. Once we've made that system good enough and there are still problems then we can think about metros and stuff. Being a Karachiite I can say the issue with revamping the bus system is the well-entrenched transport mafia that will not let any attempt at reforming the public transport system be successful. Of course these people have hooks in the Sindh Government (as you can see from the recent Ghunda taxing of Airlift).

Mafias take shape wherever there is government absence, and the longer the government is absent the more these mafias become entrenched. We can see this in many sectors. Water tanker mafia is another example where the government's failure to provide water was taken over by vested interests and now the government is helpless in front of these mafias.

 

[Dark-Destroyer]

Why cant we have a state owned bus system and compete routes and bus stops and