Metro bus transport system was built with an idea that it will provide people with non-stop shuttle service through an uncut route and it will ease people in their daily travel. This project took almost 2 years to complete and it caused a lot of fuss in the area where it was to be built.
In order to build a metro bus transport system, there are some crucial points which need to be analyzed in order to get the job done like analyzing the scale of the public transport which is required in order to fulfil the demand. The dealings between private and public departments should be publicized to ensure no corruption.
However, nothing was done right for the metro bus project in Pakistan. This is the first of its kind project in the huge city of Lahore which is also very densely populated and it was not adequate to start working without thoroughly going through the details. There was no such need for a bus to be given separate fenced corridor, as it was wastage of money and resources to think so and do so. It was enough to start with a dedicated route for the bus to travel in minimum time. The government was forced to make flyovers in order to make the project successful which also caused huge defecations in the budget of the overall project.
The main Ferozepur road was the part of Lahore which was uprooted in order to make a separate corridor for non-stop bus service. Even after the corridor was made and buses are supposed to reach after every three minutes, people still suffer as there are not enough buses to accommodate the people of Lahore. This is a huge question mark on the management of this project, that there are more people to cater and there are not enough buses available.
At first, it was proposed that a single bus will carry almost 50 people, the number was estimated with the total seats available on the bus. After a few weeks, a single bus was observed carrying almost 150 people at a time. This was a huge blow to the project and somehow it illustrated that there was no planning whatsoever behind the project.
Passenger to bus ratio is still the same but no steps are taken in order to make the situation better. Ferozepur road used to be a greenbelt before the metro train project, all the trees were uprooted and no trees were planted in order to replace those cut-down.
For almost a year, people were forced to use different routes in lieu of the construction. Due to this heavy construction and no proper safety features, Lahore has witnessed the worst smog in the history of Pakistan. It was also reported that after inauguration some of the stations were not fully operational and passengers were told to reach another station in order to avail the service.
Also, water is a serious issue in bathrooms and water coolers at every station and most of the times, people were deprived of these facilities too. In Rawalpindi and Lahore, the material used for the construction of the separated corridor was also reported to be of low quality and that is why at most of the locations, there are frequent patches on the road which can be observed very clearly.
In order to make this project a success, it is better to start conducting surveys and ask people about the improvements or the areas where this service lacks. More buses will also reduce the problem as the number of passengers per bus will decrease.
Also, the machines which were used to add credit to the card were not up to the mark, most of them were broken and people were not made aware of the method to use them.
People wait in long queues instead of using the machine. Credit transfer in the metro cards should be made easier so that more and more people use it and save time.
