The Karachi Circular Railway (KCR): A Modern Rail System

In 1964, the Karachi Circular Railway (KCR) made its debut as a modern rail system powered by overhead electric wires. It consisted of a circular route that connected the suburbs of Karachi with its bustling central business district, providing an efficient and affordable means of transportation for the residents and workers of the city. Despite its popularity and success, the KCR faced numerous challenges in the years that followed and eventually closed its doors in 1999 due to financial and operational difficulties.

The state of our state’s cities

Transport infrastructure projects should always serve city residents equitably, especially when projects are funded by public money. Projects that benefit a wealthy few are an extreme form of regressive spending, and—when coupled with regressive tax laws—effectively redistribute resources from the poor to the wealthy.

Even a cursory look at the transport infrastructure in Pakistani cities shows that local governments have continually focused primarily on building roads, addressing the mobility needs of a few car owners while ignoring the needs of many low-income residents. Metro bus projects in Lahore and Islamabad are a step in the right direction, but they only scratch the surface. Lahore, with a population of over 10 million, has a single bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor stretching 27 kilometres, whereas Ahmedabad, a city with less than half of Lahore’s population, has twelve corridors spanning over 85 kilometres and plans to develop five new corridors.

Enrique Peñalosa, former mayor of Bogotá, Colombia, has been a prominent advocate of using road space in a more equitable and efficient way. He’s even hailed BRT buses zooming past cars stuck in traffic as “democracy at work.” But if Lahore’s road space does not equitably meet the needs of public transport users, it does even less for bicyclists, who account for 5 percent of trips according to the city’s urban transport master plan. Bicyclists and pedestrians together make up almost 45 percent of all trips in Lahore, but they get next to nothing when it comes to transport infrastructure and investment.

By prioritising car-centric infrastructure through new development contracts, the city is making traffic congestion, air pollution, and road safety—already major challenges—worse. Infrastructure projects are important triggers for economic development. However, it’s important to question whether Lahore really needs more valuable urban land dedicated to cars.

In a city where 40 percent of total trips are taken by foot and only 8 percent by private car, should infrastructure spending really prioritise car owners? Increasing road capacity is not a sustainable solution to tackling traffic congestion. In fact, it adds more demand for vehicular travel, eventually resulting in more congestion and emissions. The logic is simple: more lanes on Lahore’s roads will increase the demand for travel, leading to additional car purchases and resulting in heightened traffic congestion.

So in the past 10 years, what has the BRT mansooba done for public transportation in Lahore, and what lessons can we learn from the journey?

The journey to BRT in Pakistan

The implementation of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Pakistan was a long and complex journey, marked by numerous discussions and debates about the best way to improve public transportation in the country. In the early stages of BRT planning, various organisations and institutions, including the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), proposed various mass transit projects in Pakistan, including a Light Rail Transit (LRT) system in Lahore, a mass transit project for Karachi, and a BRT system for Islamabad. However, many of these ideas were later dropped due to various challenges, including funding limitations, opposition from stakeholders, and technical difficulties.

Despite these setbacks, the idea of BRT continued to gain traction, and transportation experts and urban planners began exploring new concepts and approaches to implementing BRT in Pakistan. One of the most promising ideas was the creation of dedicated bus lanes, which would provide faster, more reliable transportation for commuters while reducing congestion on the roads. However, this idea was met with resistance from some quarters, who argued that dedicated bus lanes would take up valuable road space and create additional traffic problems.

The birth of the Metro Bus System in Lahore

It was the Metro Bus system in Lahore that finally brought BRT to life in Pakistan. This system was based on a combination of dedicated bus lanes and high-frequency bus services and was designed to provide fast, convenient, and affordable transportation for the people of Lahore. Despite initial scepticism and opposition, the Metro Bus system quickly proved to be a success, attracting millions of riders and reducing traffic congestion in the city.