On the horns of a vehicular dilemma
Peshawar has everything that a city is made of: unmanageable traffic and alienated citizens are just two of its attributes
By Behroz Khan
If traffic sense is the gauge of discipline and the condition of public toilets determines the standard of cleanliness in a civilised place, the present-day Peshawar would struggle to qualify as a city.

Want to keep the new intern busy? Just demand a chronology of the traffic jams in Pakistan over the last one month. That would surely send him away for a considerable period of time.

There have been just too many of them of late, with or without the VIP intervention. Indeed another survey by another intern could reveal just how many hours in a week we spend on discussing our intra-city travel travails alone. Parents are abhorred by everyone but parents to send their children to schools by the (school) bus to reduce traffic during peak hours. Colleagues in the office never tire of fingering each other over their individual contribution to the pollution sheet. In the end though, we all return to our old habits.

We are too used to our comforts, and too used to being treated as a herd of sheep by the powerful -- mafia or government.

In Karachi, which has a comparatively better protest record, people still continue to be dumped over the roof of the mini buses. In Lahore, in one of the most obscene posture you can ever imagine to witness, people are thrust into a van like pairs of shoes. In Peshawar 40 years' old buses trudge on with gait of a mad elephant. And in Islamabad, they are thinking of forcing the car travellers to move in groups of fours. No problem so long as the company is nice. "Operator, give me the Presidency, the Prime Minister House and the office of the capital's police chief."

Only God knows how the Karachiites manage to commute, shuttle as they do between desire and desperation.

Traffic jams are a rule in the city and it's been a while since the environmental and noise pollution touched alarming levels -- a while since many of the city roads were labelled by its dwellers as unfit for human use. To top it all, the quality of public transport has gone down and accidents are no more the chance occurrence they once used to be. They are bound to happen.

Traffic congestion in Karachi is ascribed in chief to the rapid increase in the number of automobiles secured on bank loans. However, other factors contribute, like ongoing construction work at various points, encroachment, existence of inter-city bus terminals in crowded areas deep inside Karachi and lack of parking facilities that forces motorists to park their vehicles on roads -- all because a failure to enforce law.

Almost all thoroughfares in the megapolis are disturbed because of some on-going development work by the City District Government Karachi (CDGK). The grand development plan includes the construction of a number of flyovers, underpasses and other projects like a stormwater drainage system.

"In order to save time, we started several projects simultaneously under the Tameer-i-Karachi Programme," a CDGK official says."We understand that public is suffering due to the ongoing work but we were compelled to undertake it."

He tries to compensate Karachiites by reminding them that "in a few years' time, they will enjoy commuting in a city with an entirely different (improved) look".

That could well be a Karachi with more vehicles. Between 1994 to 2002, on an average, 32,440 vehicles were added to Karachi's traffic each year. In 2003, the figure stood at 73,065 but it jumped to 1,67,626 in 2004. This means that no less than 19 vehicles were being added to the traffic in the city every hour back then.

Currently 3.5 to 4 million people commute in the city daily and some 600 cars are registered here every day. Take M.A Jinnah Road, one of the two main thoroughfares of the city along with Shahrah-e-Faisal. Some 11,000 vehicles ply the road per hour against a capacity of 750 vehicles. Illegal parking, violation of traffic rules, inadequate public transport and encroachment make it even worse.

"Karachi needs two things urgently,"says DIG Traffic Karachi, Captain Falak Khursheed (Retired). "Multi-storey parking plazas and a proper mass transit system."

The DIG says the police are responsible for regulation of traffic only. "At best we can make an impact of about 10 to 20 per cent," he says, leaving the mass transit cell and traffic engineering bureau to solve the rest of the riddle.

"We have only 1,200 traffic policemen to look after a city of 4 million daily commuters. Of these 1200 men, only the 400 odd who are ranked as ASI and above can issue tickets to violators," the traffic chief elaborates. "A single policeman has to cover 19 kilometres which would (theoretically) mean that he has to deal with 413 vehicles at a time. 1200 men cannot bring about a change on their own. They have to be helped by other departments." And by people.

Captain Falak Khursheed, believes that the people must be discouraged from bringing their vehicles to downtown Karachi by providing them with a proper mass transit system.

One of the most painful aspects associated with the traffic congestion in Karachi is the chaos that VIP movement brings to the city in its wake. Full protocol and a 'fully' congested Shahrah-e-Faisal greets the president and the prime minister on their visits here. This VIP movement and the general immobility that it leads to has in recent times been blamed for many a death, including that of a university student who could not make it to hospital in time because of a 'very important' traffic jam.

While these brushes with the royalty are mercifully occasional, the commuters are forever in the grip of a powerful transport mafia. Karachi's public transport system is an assortment of buses, coaches, mini buses, taxis, rickshaws and the so called Karachi Circular Railways (KCR). Of a total of 18,000 buses operating in the city, 13,000 are mini buses and coaches that are held responsible by many for paralysing the entire public transport system. Loaded to the last available inch on the roof, these minis are a favourite with the transporters because they provide bigger profits. Notwithstanding the Karachiites' demands for bigger, more spacious buses, they are condemned to fold their bodies and somehow cram themselves into the mini buses.

The Urban Transport System (UTS) buses introduced some years ago provided the people some relief initially. Within a couple of years, though, the spacious option began to wane due to a number of factors.

Rana Muneer, an official of the UTS Buses Operators Association, tells TNS that mismanagement and corruption by the staff of different UTS buses led the companies to default and the buses had to be returned to the leasing banks. He identifies high oil prices and unavailability of spare parts of these imported buses as the main reasons for the system's collapse.

There are others who maintain the UTS was doomed from the start in the face of the transport mafia -- even though transporters claim they are ready to play their due role in turning the traffic system around.

"If the government wants to ban unfit and pollution-causing vehicles, it should give us some incentive,"says Irshad Bukhari, President, Karachi Transport Ittehad. "We also want a pollution-free environment but we should be given loans to buy the CNG buses which are very costly. Thousands of poor families depend on this business for their survival."

Survival is the right word when you consider the tragically high number of fatal accidents that Karachi has been the site of in recent times. In a majority of the fatal accident cases, a heavy vehicle -- oil tanker or trailer with improperly secured containers recklessly driven by untrained men -- was to blame.

Buses, mini buses and coaches make up just 2 per cent of the total registered vehicles in Karachi but they are responsible for an extremely high number of fatal accidents. In 2005 alone, 91 buses were involved in fatal accidents, followed by the other usual suspects: mini buses (75) and coaches (73). As many as 297 fatal accidents involved other heavy vehicles -- trucks, dumpers, oil tankers and trailers.

"Karachi needs nothing short of a Transport Masterplan," says Athar Hussain, Executive District Officer (EDO) in CDGK's Transport and Communication Department, formerly known as Traffic Engineering Bureau. "We are the inter-regulatory authority, we don't make policies."

In the meanwhile, the department claims to be doing its bit."The central business district (CBD) of Karachi had no parking lots,"the EDO tells

TNS. "We have planned 13 parking lots in the area, which will be completed in two years' time. That will solve the parking problem there to a great extent. To avoid violations of signals, we plan to introduce a Demand Responsive Urban Transport System within a year."

He says loop detectors will be installed at every signal which will convey information to the central control system within seconds. "We will be able to manage traffic better with the help of this system," Athar Hussain says.

The Mass Transit Cell on its part is planning to import 8,000 CNG buses for Karachi over the next five years. The idea is to replace old buses gradually with the CNG versions, starting with the oldest bus.

According to a Sindh High Court decision all vehicles which are unfit or causing environmental pollution must be banned. There is already a bar on the registration of any more two-stroke rickshaws and by June 2007 the two-stroke rickshaws plying the roads at present have to convert to CNG or face cancellation of permits.

This is serious stuffing. To ease the traffic load in Islamabad the government is planning to enact laws that will allow only cars with four people on board to ply city roads during rush hours. There are also plans to designate the road that leads to the secretariat as one-way during rush hours. That will mean a ban on traffic from the secretariat in the morning and to it in the afternoon.

That is not all. The odd-and-even numbers system in place in other countries for some time could also be introduced in the federal capital. Under the system, cars with even registration numbers are allowed to come on the roads on certain designated days while those having odd registration numbers are allowed during certain other days. Another regulation could be that people could travel in their cars up to a certain point from where public transport will take them farther.

No one knows when this is going to happen, if ever. Officials are however certain that the increasing number of traffic jams on the capital city's roads demand drastic action.

There is no national urban transport policy at the federal level. Traffic management has been left to the urban transport management of the respective metropolitan or district governments.

An official at the Federal Communication Ministry tells TNS the ministry only deals with the planning of the national highways.

Similarly, an official of the Communication Ministry's limbs NTRC (National Transport Research Cell) says that its mandate is limited to inter-city transportation.

Khizer Javed, a research officer in NTRC, says that, off and on, the cell does conduct studies on urban transport or gives advice to different departments on request.

Recently, he says, it sent advice to a Senate standing committee suggesting that the markup rate on car lease should be increased to discourage sales and that all the metropolitan centres should have a uniform transport management systems.

Critics say the NTRC's solutions are either half cooked, short term or plain reactive. They are neither based on credible data from the past, nor do they make any future projections, reliable or otherwise.

NTRC's previous interventions such as the proposal to run a bus train to carry the federal government employees to the offices or running a train for them up to the outskirts of Islamabad at Margalla railway station from where they would board special buses to offices, did not work.

Islamabad is the only city in Pakistan where the federal government is involved in traffic management. Islamabad capital territory has been laid down as a constituent of the state. Under President's Order No.18 of 1980, president of Pakistan exercises executive authority of the federation through an administrator (chief commissioner).

The Islamabad traffic police, which is responsible for managing the traffic flow, and the Capital Development Authority (CDA), which is responsible for providing road infrastructure, both come under the Federal Interior Ministry. Therefore, the traffic management in Islamabad is a model that could be followed by other cities.

According to official estimates, an average of 150 vehicles are registered daily with the Excise and Taxation Office, Islamabad, while around 80 vehicles are registered every day in Rawalpindi.

There are 240,000 registered vehicles in Islamabad and 236,123 in Rawalpindi. According to SSP (Traffic) Islamabad, Sultan Azam Taimuri, over 143,886 vehicles use Islamabad roads every day -- frequently creating jams.

The remedy, the government discovered in January this year, lay in a model traffic police -- with a grant of Rs 100 million for initiating the setup. Around 700 well equipped traffic police personnel employed by the force, besides doing other work, have been running public awareness campaigns.

This force needs the support of a solid infrastructure to make a real difference. Consequently, CDA has launched a number of expensive schemes of road expansion, building at least three underpasses and one main flyover at Zero Point.

These projects are going to be completed in around next two years. But it seems that the increase in the number of cars would only neutralise these interventions.

Do we have any planning based on future projections? Khalid Virk, an inspector in Islamabad traffic police, says there is no long term plan. Khalid, who is coordinating the police's effort with different other government departments, tells TNS that a number of proposals are under consideration, foremost among them is collecting authentic date about the volume of the traffic.

"We have contacted NTRC to carry out such a study. A number of proposals are under discussion like making it mandatory for every office going person to carry three other people in his/her car otherwise he/she will not be allowed on road and turning two way roads into one way during rush hours."

"Another proposal under discussion is to establish special car parking terminals at different entry points of Islamabad such as Peshawar Morr and Convention Centre where motorists will be required to leave their vehicles. For further journey they would be using public transport."

How feasible and practical these proposals are, remains a subject of debate. What is decided is that the city, and those which must emulate it, need action urgently.

management

Lahore's population is growing at a rate of 4 per cent a year. It is widely perceived that because of this rapid growth, the level of services provided to the city's 7 million inhabitants has substantially deteriorated. When one looks at the traffic congestion, public transport, or quality of roads in the city, it seems they have gone through the worst forms of deterioration during the last decade or so.

More than 20,000 new vehicles are registered with the Excise and Taxation Department, Lahore. Masood-ul-Haq, Director Excise and Taxation, Lahore (Zone C), tells TNS that the number of cars registered with the department each month is well above 5,000.

That is a far cry from the Lahore conservationist and artist Dr Ajaz Anwar recalls in a talk with TNS.

"Back in the late 1950s it was an event when a batch of American surplus cars (Chevrolet) arrived in Lahore,"Dr Anwar says. "It was the first time people saw so many cars together on the Lahore roads. And it was during Ayub Khan's rule that tongas were first barred from entering The Mall before 9 pm."

He says that no government has taken Lahore's traffic problem seriously and the results are there for all to see.

Figures back Dr Ajaz's assertions. "No study on Lahore's traffic was conducted until the mid-1970s," says Khushhal Khan, Chief Engineer Traffic Engineering and Planning Authority (TEPA) Lahore. He is referring to 'Urban Development and Traffic Study' initiated by the Lahore Development Authority's Engineering and Planning Unit (TEPU) in 1975 and completed in 1980.

"Till 1975-76 cyclists made up 33 per cent of the total traffic in Lahore, according to results of the study," says Khushhal Khan. The study also pointed out that between 1975 to 1980, the number of motorcycles in Lahore increased by 18 per cent. "Cars were not a problem then," according to Khushhal.

They are now, and the in thing these days is to blame it on the banks who give out cars on lease and on a lack of reasonable public transport options.

"Both these factors have contributed a lot to this upsurge in the number of vehicles in Lahore," says Sardar Muhammad Humayun Khan, Joint Secretary Association of Road Users of Punjab. He thinks that good public transport is the key to solving traffic problems in any big city.

Leasing of cars by banks is not a very old phenomenon in Pakistan. It started in the late 1990s and the crunch came in 2003 when most of the banks liberalised their policies about leasing of cars. This was the period when interest rates on leased cars fell to a level below 10 per cent. There has been a phenomenal rise in the number of motor cars in Lahore since 2003 and 70 per cent of them happen to be the ones leased by banks.

"In 2003-2004 the number of cars registered with the Excise and Taxation Department observed a 63 per cent increase. In 2005-06 64,485 cars were registered," says Masood-ul-Haq, Director Excise and Taxation (Zone C).

He tells TNS that in the last five years the total number of vehicles has doubled in Lahore. For instance on June 30, 2001, there were 166,359 motor cars registered with the department while on June 30, 2006, the number of cars had reached 352,981.

"The existing infrastructure -- roads, underpasses, overhead bridges, service lanes, cross junctions and so on -- is insufficient to accommodate 1.4 million vehicles that are registered here," says Waseem Ahmed Sial, Lahore Traffic Police Chief, suggesting just how difficult a task traffic management can be."In Karachi the total length of roads is 1,056 kilometers and the city has 1.5 million registered vehicles. The total length of roads (where traffic police is responsible for managing traffic) in Lahore is 365 kilometers and the number of vehicles registered with the city alone is 1.4 million."

Waseem admits that discipline is the key to managing traffic, but he thinks traffic police alone cannot enforce it."Traffic police are not equipped to avoid traffic jams especially when people are not willing to follow rules. With the strength at their command, the traffic police are performing very well,"he says.

Motorcycles and scooters make up 50 per cent of the total vehicles in Lahore."There are 6,90,000 of them and they are a major problem," Waseem tells TNS.

He says more than 200 people are killed in traffic accidents in the city every year. Vehicles' share in the pollution in Lahore is 70 per cent -- the two-stroke rickshaws alone accounting for 40 per cent of the total pollution.

Tariq Zaman Khan, District Officer Environment, has data to prove this: "Since the ban on two-stroke rickshaws on The Mall in April this year, the pollution level (both air and noise) there has dropped by 45 per cent." "The introduction of CNG buses and Mass Transit System and a complete ban on two-stroke rickshaws after 2007 will definitely improve the city's environment."

Khushhal Khan, Chief Engineer TEPA believes that traffic problems cannot be solved simply by building expressways and flyovers. His list of measures that are needed is rather ambitious considering the realities on the ground: Effective segregation of inter-city and local traffic and of fast and slow traffic; protection of pedestrian's interest; development of a rational road use policy and its implementation....

Aamir Butt, coordinator Punjab Urban Resource Centre, a non-governmental organisation, says bus routes have not been rationalised in Lahore. Although new routes have been added, a rational network which is in keeping with the city's phenomenal spread has not been developed. "If the routes are rationalised according to present needs the traffic flow can be eased to a great extent," he says.

The chief of TEPA promises the Integrated Management Plan going to be launched on Ferozepur Road as a pilot project next month will cover all the missing aspects. "For the first time we are going to introduce a 20-kilometre exclusive 'bus lane' on this road," Khushal Khan says.

According to him the project will also include a crackdown on encroachments, including illegal car parking lots ."If successful, it will be replicated elsewhere in Lahore as well as five other big cities of Punjab," says Khushhal.

Long wait

Good public transport has always been a problem in Lahore. Successive Punjab governments have been experimenting on various approaches of transportation to ease the traffic load on the city's roads. Unfortunately, none of these plans have so far succeeded in facilitating the commuters.

In 1964 Punjab Road Transport Board (PRTB) was formed to manage urban transport routes. In 1978 Punjab Urban Transport Corporation (PUTC) was created exclusively for urban routes and in 1985 PRTB and PUTC were joined to form PRTC (Punjab Road Transport Corporation), which proved a white elephant.

After the failure of PRTC, the government of Punjab started a new transport system in 1997. Thus Lahore Transport system came into existence when private entrepreneurs were asked to operate buses under a government authority. Under this scheme franchise of different routes has already been given to different bus companies. According to the government plan mini buses and vans were to be replaced with large buses. The future of small vans that have been plying on Lahore's roads since 1972 is very uncertain, as legally they cannot ply vans on franchised routes. "In 1997 there were more than 20,000 vans in Lahore," says Yasin Butt, a transporter who used to operate vans on route number 22 before buses were introduced in place of the vans.

The general view is that the new bus system has also failed to deliver, and has in fact added to the problems. "More than 500 people have been killed in Lahore in accidents involving just one company since the introduction of new bus system," says Aamir Butt, Coordinator Punjab Urban Resource Centre. "The idea was to introduce one bus in place of five vans and none of the companies has achieved the minimum number of buses supposed to ply on any particular route."

-- Aoun Sahi

On the horns of a vehicular dilemma

If traffic sense is the gauge of discipline and the condition of public toilets determines the standard of cleanliness in a civilised place, the present-day Peshawar would struggle to qualify as a city.

The dirt apart, life in this city of close to one million 'local' population and more than half a million Afghan refugees is simply unbearable due to the unmanageable traffic system.

The traffic is affecting the psyche of the Peshawar residents. It is depressing to see the ever-growing muddle and to see how these roads are cleared for the dignitaries through barricades or through diversion -- leading to greater chaos everywhere. And there is no escape from this survival-of-the-fittest routine.

Peshawar was once a less crowded, clean and well-kept walled city. It has opened up in recent decades, accommodating all in the local tradition of hospitality and allowing its residents little breathing space in accordance with the modern trends.

The city's infrastructure has been stretched to the limit during the last two and a half decades because of the Afghan influx, but this is too easy an excuse officials often resort to. Peshawar suffers on account of an ineffective government and in no small measure, due to the senseless alienation of its citizens.

All this provides the basis for plenty of nostalgia and the old Peshawar dwellers reminisce endlessly about a past that boasts tongas, double-decker buses, and, in some cases, private cars.

"Horse riders would come on the streets to mark special occasions," says Nasir Bukhari, an old Peshawar resident, indicating that anyone who dares go on a trot now risks being trampled under the fast moving motorised vehicles. But he is not obsessed with the past. "Life goes on," he says. "The planners have to deal with new challenges as they come."

According to official data, about 200,000 vehicles are registered in Peshawar. "We have issued 130,000 computerised registration numbers to vehicles while about 70,000 others are in the pipeline," says Nasir Khan, Deputy Director Excise and Taxation Department, Peshawar.

The department has launched a campaign against fake registration numbers and the fine imposed against violators ranges between Rs 10,000 to Rs 25,000. "Two owners found guilty of using fake numbers were made to pay Rs 50,000 in fine the other day," says Nasir Khan.

Auto rickshaws and lately the mini buses, a gift originating from the Pashtun-Mohajir riots in Karachi, are not only identified as the main sources of noise and air pollution in Peshawar, they top the list when it comes to violating all other traffic rules. The noise pollution level in certain parts of the city ranges between 90 to 100 decibel compared to the WHO's permitted limit of 85 decibel. Rated as the most polluted city of the country, the average air pollution in Peshawar is 17 particles per million (PPM) -- up to 38 PPM at certain spots. Nine PPM and above, experts say, is dangerous for human health.

The consequences of the traffic-related stress on the mental health of people have not been properly evaluated, but deaths and injuries in road accidents top the casualty lists at all major hospitals in Peshawar.

Yet no one seems in a mood to respect traffic rules in a city where those who jump the signal outnumber those who stop at the red light. Residents of other Pakistani towns will be glad to know that in the true national spirit, certain drivers in Peshawar also do not like those ahead of them to stop at the signals. They are quite prepared to honk the heart out of their weak-kneed predecessors. Come to think of it, the jump would be considered a rather surreptitious act when you have Bara Buses honking and ploughing through vehicular piles with the gait of an elephant gone mad.

The surge in population and the consequent increase in the number of vehicles on Peshawar's roads are inevitably affecting the behaviour of people, believes Qaiyum Khan, a Peshawar resident involved in the transport business. "An exchange of smiles in this city of ours is rare now. There is that intense look on every face. The traffic has most certainly played a part in how we behave," he says as he argues for some quick relief.

One official answer to these pleas has been some pedestrian underpasses built in the city a few years back. The problem though is that a large number -- the women, the elderly and the physically weak -- cannot use this facility because of the stairs and also because of the commercial activity taking place 'within' these underpasses.

Examples how mindless commercialisation is affecting the traffic flow abound. Take the University Road from Hayat Avenue to the offices of the Intermediate Board, there are too few traffic signals around to ensure the motorists' right of way. Endless jams ensue in the densely populated area which is being fast converted into a commercial zone. The cars acquired on lease through banks has swelled the traffic over night.

In the wake of all this, the police say they are overworked and resourceless. Others add that they are also inefficient and corrupt.

Rommel Akram, Superintendent of Traffic Police in Peshawar, has a tough job at hand and he puts his faith in educating the motorists before he identifies the chief culprits on the city roads. "Whereas traffic violations are a common practice here, rickshaws and mini-buses are the main law-breakers," he tells TNS.

According to official data, of the 28,000 rickshaws operating in Peshawar, fewer than 7,000 have route permits. The case of the mini-buses is no different.

The traffic department has categorised routes -- Class-A, Class-B and Class-C. In theory, vehicles more than nine years' old should not be allowed to use Class-A routes, but in actuality you will find buses born 40 years ago plying the Bara Road, a major part of which is designated as A-Class. The department says it is trying to reduce the number of old vehicles "slowly and gradually".

The Environmental Protection Agency has time and again called for steps to regulate rickshaws, mini-buses and old passenger buses, which cause air and noise pollution in the city, but to no avail. The city district government has lately floated tenders for introducing CNG buses to reduce pollution, but the process has prolonged beyond expectations. Road engineering has failed to address the problem and the checkposts erected at certain points for security reasons are counter-productive. Car lifting has increased despite these checkposts, which are an additional impediment in the way of the traffic.

"The traffic police need to make use of their training school properly and ensure that every driver on the road undergoes the six-month mandatory training before he is given a driving licence," says Major Anjum Afroz Rana (Retired). Above all, as the Major puts it, "The people must own this city and the laws that govern it. We should be ashamed that we are ruining our city."