A problem of management and magnitude
It took about 25 minutes, at 8.30am in the morning, to go from New Garden Town to Muslim Town, just off the Canal Road, by car. Most of the time was spent stuck in traffic. Traffic was slow in a couple of places due to road construction activity. But that was not the main reason for the delays. It was the sheer volume of cars, rickshaws and motorcycles that was the main reason.
A few days ago, I had to go to the vicinity of the Provincial Secretariat, from Gulberg, and come back. Each leg of the trip took an hour: the time it takes to reach Sukkeki interchange if one is travelling from Lahore on the Motorway, and the total travel time, to go to that area of the Mall and come back, was about the same it takes to reach Faisalabad from Lahore. Again, the reason was not any particular issue on the day or any particular time as well: it was just regular mid afternoon traffic and no VIP movement to complicate matters further. Again, the reason was simply the volume of the traffic. The average speed of travel was very low and many of the red lights changed twice before we could get across them.
And it is quite stressful to drive in this traffic. Most drivers weave in and out of traffic dangerously. Wagon and rickshaw drivers, under time pressure, are especially unruly and can be quite dangerous at times. And then there are the motorcycle riders: motorcycle riders are very vulnerable as their body is exposed and any accident can be very costly to them, from bodily harm point of view. But since motorcycles are more manoeuvrable and take less space, a lot of motorcyclists take that as a license to drive quite rashly.
Given the volume of traffic and the pressure to get to the destination, it is no surprise that most of the vehicles that one sees on Lahore roads have small dents and scratches on them. It seems almost impossible not to get these, however good or careful a driver you might be as there are many others who are not being as good and/or careful.
There was an old couple crossing the road and the car in front of me, surprisingly, stopped to allow them to cross the road in peace: a rare occurrence these days. I too braked. But the driver coming up behind me was thinking of something else, doing something else or not looking so he did not brake. I got a very rude and strong jolt when he hit me, despite being belted. But I knew that the back bumper was gone and maybe even the lights. Both of us moved our cars to the side and then I got out and asked the driver how he stopped his car in places where there was no car in front of him. He was too frazzled to appreciate the irony. The gentleman acknowledged his mistake but mentioned that he would not be able to pay for any damages. What does one do in such a situation? I wished him a good day and moved on.
Another time a motorcyclist hit me from behind. At the time the car was almost parked. He was just overloaded with stuff he was transporting and could not control his bike. Again, what does one do? I ensured the gentleman was fine before wishing him a good day. And one sees many such instances even in a couple of hours of driving around in the city. Since the speed of vehicles in the city is low, due to the heavy volume, most of the accidents that happen do not result in serious injuries. But even with this caveat pedestrians, cycle and motorcycle riders and those who use public transport (and have to climb on to or get off moving vehicles) are still very vulnerable.
Lahore’s population is about nine million. There are some three million vehicles in the city. In the morning children have to reach schools and colleges and people have to go to work and in the afternoon they have to come back, and the normal business of people has to go on. These millions of people and millions of vehicles have to move across the city all the time. And more people and vehicles are being added to the city all the time. How can we cope with the issue? Clearly, widening the streets and making underpasses or overheads will not address the issue. The volume of traffic can only be facilitated that much through these means. And as the volume increases we will keep running into bottlenecks all the time. But the cost, in terms of environmental pollution, noise pollution, cutting of trees, and eradication of green spaces is very high.
The real solution lies in mass transit systems. We have to move in that direction. The city is now just too big not to have any mass transit system. The calculus should be simple. If we need 10 cars to cart 40 people around, we need one bus to do that. And if we have trains, the numbers work out to be even better. Think of the saving in terms of commute time, fuel, environmental degradation, and the reduction in stress and road rage. And do not underestimate any of these costs. The direct costs of transportation are substantial, but the costs, in terms of environmental degradation, stress on drivers, on health of people is also very large. Any drive of 15-20 minutes is sure to allow you to see people swearing at each other, giving them new information about their parentage, and so on.
Once we have a mass transit system, likely a combination of some trains that ply the longer routes and a network of buses to cover other areas, and a decent transit system at that, one that is safe, clean, efficient and reasonably affordable, then we can use tax levies to discourage use of private vehicles for coming into the city. But this can only happen after a viable system has been put in place. Broadening of roads can at best be temporary relief when the number of vehicles is increasing at a rapid rate. And roads can only be broadened that much. What we are doing on the canal, putting in hundreds of millions of rupees on one road, using iron and steel rails on the canal, cutting trees, putting metallic overhead walkways is waste of money. Clearly, it is a policy made by those who do not think from the point of view of citizens and pedestrians, but think of only car owners. And it will not work for long either.
The design of transport systems for a city is really the work of the city government. But local government system is not really working in Pakistan. So it falls on the provincial government to do that. So far they have chosen to rely on broadening roads to manage the issue, but for a city the size of Lahore, this is a poor solution. We need investments in infrastructure right now: trains and buses. And these investments will pay for themselves. But, it will take a dedicated (local) government to be able to move on the issue.
The writer is an Associate Professor of Economics at LUMS (currently on leave) and a Senior Advisor at Open Society Foundation (OSF). He can be reached at [email protected]
transprot mafia always against the citizens of karachities..
Professor Bari – Thank you very much for bringing up the necessary need in urban spaces, of public transportation. To all interested; transportation studies have pointed out that auto use in urban areas expands exponentially, like bacteria. Without public transit options, flyovers or expanded roads only lat 7yrs till the afore state of overburden traffic resumes. 2 strategies that need serious review: overhead PRT systems (personalized rapid transit) allowing origin to destination without stops -there are ways to do this; and, free (tax paid) public transit (need to get out of the neo-liberal economic trap). Discussion of these options will necessitate critical discussions with all users (public) and technical providers (engineering schools, companies, transport departments, etc.
About the assessment of this motor vehicle, always keep in mind that it must be to save you time as well as for the benefit of the particular transportation business to have your own motor vehicle inspected previous to getting the item loaded onto the particular transportation service.
great job
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