Mass Transit

Courtesy:- Ali Moeen Nawazish
Monday, March 19, 2012

In a poll conducted of fresh graduates who were just starting new jobs, a number which amounts to more than 400,000 a year, and people in the middle of there careers, a majority of them indicated that a lack of good and cheap transport was keeping them from getting better jobs.

The 27% of mid-careers said that they had better job offers but because of distance they could not avail the opportunity. Whereas the 42% of fresh graduates said, that at least a third of their salary went into transport expenditure and the 51% said it became difficult for them to avail better job opportunities due to lack of transport access. The fresh graduates living away from the business districts and “posh” employment areas also ended up fairing badly in terms of career progress then those who were in closer proximity to these areas.

There are very few companies who provide transportation to their employees. This is primarily for economic reasons but other factors can play a role. Now if one looks at the modes of transportation available commonly in Pakistan one realizes that there is no cheap, comfortable and viable option. Either one can own a car, which is not only expensive initially but fuel costs keep rising and given the maintenance, security and tax expenditure only few people can afford this mode. It is highly convenient, but highly expensive and the reliance on fossil fuels also has a huge negative environmental impact specially in densely populated cities. Secondly it is really expensive to build the road infrastructure and keep it’s expansion going with an increase in the number of cars.

The second option is private transport hire. This form of transport includes taxi cabs, vans, rikshawas and “ching-chis.” Most of these are unregulated in terms of the fare they charge. When there is no CNG fares generally shoot up twice when that is not the actual difference between costs of CNG and fuel. Thus the consumer ends up being exploited. Not only do they operate out of taxation brackets but also are not monitored for vehicle safety leading to a high number of accidents. On a daily basis they can be expensive specially for taxi cabs, and it gets hard to budget for them.

The third option can be buying a motorbike. However, not everyone can raise the capital to do that and it is also a high-risk form of transport. A person on a motorbike is exposed and will be injured when an accident happens. They also expose a person to different weather conditions from cold to heat and that coupled with dust and pollution can lead to health problems in people who use them often. While they can be economical for travel, they are not safe, and definitely not suitable for even small families.

The last option is our current public transport system. It is unregulated, fares can fluctuate to extortion levels given different times of day and availability or non-availability of the CNG. Even more importantly there are no frequently placed stops, quality varies from car to car, and most importantly there are now set timings and route timetables. This makes using public transport for the ordinary person difficult, and one ends up only resorting to it if one has no choice. This lack of organization also ends up making journey times a lot longer and difficult to predict.

An effective mass transit system is essential for any economy to develop. It provides incentives for workers to travel across to get more suited jobs, and also makes availability of good human resource easier for companies. It offers cheap transport to the masses, which is convenient and comfortable. Apart from the obvious benefits a mass transit system also consumes much less fuel, which is going to become a scarce resource as time goes on. Mass transit modes include buses, trolley-busses, trams and trains. They also include rapid transit (metro/subways/undergrounds etc). Most of the developed world cities use mass transit systems and these systems in general have contributed greatly to their development.

Mass transit systems also develop an infrastructure specially in terms of trains, where revenue can come from rented our shops, as well as leasing out of lines to carry communication cables.

Mass transit systems are very fuel efficient. A 2002 study by the Brookings Institution and the American Enterprise Institute found that public transportation in the US uses approximately half the fuel required by cars, SUV’s and light trucks. In addition, the study noted that “private vehicles emit about 95 percent more carbon monoxide, 92 percent more volatile organic compounds and about twice as much carbon dioxide and nitrogen oxide than public vehicles for every passenger mile travelled.” In addition urban spaces are expensive commodity and new cities planned with mass transit systems will be able to be designed more efficiently too.

There is also a very important social role played by mass transit systems. It for one offers everybody to travel, not just those with driving licenses and access to automobiles. This means young people, old people or those who are unable to drive due to medical conditions will all be able to travel. It also opens up the possibility of meeting other people from different walks of life. Hence it becomes a location of inter-social encounters across all boundaries of social, ethnic, economic divisions and other affiliations. Thus increasing tolerance and overall social cohesion among people.

As mass transit infrastructure is expensive and returns not short term, private investment in the sector is minimal. Around the world mass transit services are funded by government subsidies and fares charged to passengers. Services are normally regulated and often subsidized from local or national tax revenue. The old mass transit systems around the world do well economically and are constantly improved from the profits earned, such as in the New York City Subway or the London Underground. Advertisement is also an upcoming source of income from mass transit systems, where there are advertisement spots rented out on buses, trains etc. Therefore it becomes the government’s responsibility.

An organized mass transit system is the need of the hour of not only the major cities of Pakistan but also of the economy of the country. It does not have to start from an underground metro or monorails. It can start from something simple as bus services. It will be important to take the private sector on board with this and specially the independent transporters, it will be of help if they can be brought under stricter regulation first.

However, if we and more specifically our federal and provincial governments don’t recognize the need for reliable, cheap and readily available mass transport it will be a long way to go for our economy, and life would be very difficult for our upcoming large workforce. We will have a workforce, but no viable and cost-effective way of getting them to their jobs.