A timely analysis of Karachi’s public transit woes Hasan and Raza pay attention to the finer details in ‘Karachi’s Public Transport: Origins, Evolution and Future Planning By Zunairah Qureshi
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he state of Karachi’s public transport system, or the lack thereof, has been a topic of national conversation for decades now. Every year there is some new solution proposed and every year some other solution of equally grand proportions is scrapped. The lamentable absence of any real public transport system in the country’s largest metropolis, let alone the absence of a robust one, is the topic of Asif Hasan and Mansoor Raza’s titled ‘Karachi’s Public Transport: Origins, Evolution and Future Planning.’ Despite its deceptively simple title, the book takes on the Herculean task of picking up the history of public transport in Karachi, and identifying a number of factors that have contributed to the failing of a complex system meant to pull together a sprawling city of 20 million strong.
BOOK REVIEW
Together, the two writers bring a vast range of expertise that allows them to analyse the city in what can only be described as an exercise in urban-transit cartography. Arif Hasan, an architect, planner, activist, researcher, and teacher, has to his name multiple publications on urban and rural development. Among other contributions to eminent projects like Orangi Pilot Project and Asian Coalition for Housing Rights, Bangkok, he is the founding Chairperson of Urban Resource Centre, a non-profit organisation which focuses on highlighting public issues. Meanwhile Mansoor Raza, an electrical engineer, environmentalist and urban planner that is currently a lecturer at the Department of Architecture and Planning, NED University of Engineering and Technology, brings to the book years of experience serving as a research supervisor on the Green Line (BRT), Lyari expressway, and other transportation projects. With their unique set of skills and
different perspectives, the two authors manage to construct a narrative that includes all stakeholders, from the government officials who are responsible for maintaining public transport to civilians who are reluctant to use the city’s overhead bridges. The authors discuss Karachi’s evolving demographic, it’s growth in population, changes in family structure, and consequent changes in lifestyle habits, as factors that affect the city’s demand for public transport. There were many interventions proposed and even taken, that end up falling short of this demand either because of political tensions, beaureucratic incompetency, and a number of reasons that are presented in this book. The book begins with a discussion on Karachi’s public transport’s history, touching upon the fate of the tramway line that connected the city and Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) which ran a full circumference of 44 km until the city outgrew it. Then, there was
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