The city has been longing for a circular railway for decades. The existent transportation is ultra-privatised with millions left with no other choice but to hop on junked carriages, putrescent rickshaws and Chingchi four-wheelers driven on a motorcycle engine. The so-called metro buses running only on two arteries of the city are symbolic in essence, as they do not come to cater to the robust demand of the city’s millions of commuters.
The city is devoid of everything that an urban centre must possess. Its roads are potholed, and unplanned development schemes have rendered them more chaotic. The Economist Intelligence Unit, in its 2025 Index, ranked Karachi as the fourth least livable city in the world. That is so because it lacks an organic municipality, a viable garbage collection system and an adequate water and electric supply network. This messy equation necessitates a master plan to overhaul its entire civic edifice, rather than gimmicks merely meant for the gallery. Running on ad-hocism, the civic administration cannot cope with the soaring challenges of a bulging population and horizontal mushrooming.
The provincial government claims that Rs9 billion have been allocated for resurrecting roads in industrial areas. Herein, the relevant authorities must walk the talk. Likewise, the new double-decker fare of Rs80 to 120 per trip is quite exorbitant compared to Rs30 for a metro bus ride in Rawalpindi-Islamabad. Last but not least, it is not yet known as to how many buses would hit the devastated streets. In the past, such fanfare inaugurals proved short-lived, piling a huge burden on the exchequer.
The least that Karachiites deserve in the commutation sphere is an orderly mass-transit system, resumption of a proper taxi service and an inter-city railway. A consortium of consumers-cum-financers can be a good start to reorient the city to its merits, wherein the government can play the role of a watchdog. Let public enterprise plan and run the city, and not the imported and unaccustomed vehicles.