LAHORE: After every thirty minutes a group of four Daewoo buses are seen entering and leaving its terminal located at the Ferozepur Road near the Kalma Chowk congesting the traffic on the chowk while taking U turns to commute between its terminal and the workshop located opposite to its terminal.
While entering the city from the motorway the buses turn right from the canal bank on Maulana Shaukat Ali Road towards Jinnah Hospital and joins Usmania Road and Main Boulevard Garden Town Road, already accommodating more than its capacity as commuters traveling to Johar Town, Model Town, Wapda Town, Garden Town, New Garden Town, Faisal Town and Township use this road with traffic clogged in rush hours.
After approaching Kalma Chowk, the buses take a left and head towards the Qaddafi Stadium junction to take a U turn to Daewoo terminal. The buses going out of the city head towards Center Point and take a U turn back to Kalma Chowk and on the same route again. Adding to the problems, the Daewoo terminal is seen surrounded by taxies, rickshaws and other vehicles in search of passengers and relatives. To top it all, these busses emit diesel smoke which adds to the city’s air pollution.
According to Traffic Engineering and Transport Planning Agency (TEPA) figures, Ferozepur Road accommodates more than 250,000 vehicles daily. All sort of commuters are seen using this road as it connects Qasur Road with Qartaba Chowk almost covering half of the city. Many schools, colleges and offices fall adjacent to this road and especially Kalma Chowk.
CITIZENS SPEAK: “More than three busses arriving and departing at the same time adds up to the commuting problems massively,” said Maidah Hamid a student of arts. “The traffic is choked everyday in the morning rush hours when I’m on my way to college and right in the front I see Daewoo busses trying to make a turn towards the terminal,” she added.
“It gets worse when a match is being played at Qaddafi Stadium. I got caught in a bottle neck for an hour here at Ferozepur Road only because a bus was stuck while taking a U turn at Qaddafi Stadium junction,” she said.
THE DREAM OF A TERMINAL-FREE CITY: Ironically, a drive against bus stands operating in the city was launched in 1999, in which all transport bus stands were directed to move to the city suburbs.
This was done to ease the traffic flow, as buses entering and exiting the city tended to disturb routine traffic. Now the traffic and environment problems have multiplied substantially as number of vehicles on road has increase by a huge margin.
OBLIGING THE PRIVILEGED: Niazi Bus Service spokesman Azam Khan Niazi revealed that Niazi Bus Service was forced to leave previous location on the order of the Punjab government but when they raised voice against Daewoo Bus Service, the government officials said, “This is a matter of embassies and countries, we can’t do anything about it.”
Niazi charged, “If this law of shifting bus stands is imposed on us, why is Daewoo not shifted out of the city? We weren’t even in the center, but Daewoo dares to sit right at the heart of Lahore.” He said Daewoo Bus Service is also exempted from a tax imposed by the City District Government Lahore.
“Every bus entering and exiting the city has to pay Rs 500 per bus per round, but Daewoo is exempted from this payment,” he said. He accused the government of obliging the foreign business companies.
WE ARE ALL CLEAN: While talking to Pakistan Today the Daewoo Bus Service Operation Manager Rana Farooq said, “We abide by all the rules laid by the government and we are D Class license holders which mean that the government has permitted us to operate here.”
He said that in his view it was an honor when a foreign company invested in the country. On environment and traffic issues he said that the administration is seriously thinking to shifting the terminal and the company was aware of the traffic problems created by the busses. He clarified, “Our drivers try their best to enter the terminal as quickly as possible so the commuter problems can be reduced.”
Transport Secretary Mohammad Younis said the committee that permits Daewoo Bus Service to operate in Lahore was directly headed by the District Coordination Officer Ahad Cheema, who despite repeated attempts did not respond to the query.
