Etapa de Diseño

Inst ead of seeing road const ruct ion as t he only solut ion t o t raffic jam s, an efficient int er- and int ra-cit y t ransport syst em m ust be int roduced. M ost large cit ies of t he w orld use som e form of rail for effect ive public t ransport . The Karachi Circular Railw ay (KCR) w as a popular public t ransport syst em during t he

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1970s w it h about 0.3 m illion daily passengers.56 KCR facilit at ed t he urban poor as w ell as m iddle-incom e populat ion. How ever, det eriorat ion of infrast ruct ure, st at ions and crossings led t o reduct ion in t he num ber of com m ut ers. The num ber of daily t rips of KCR decreased from 104 during 1970s t o only one in 1999.57 By running a t rain-based public t ransport syst em , com m ut ing t im es can be reduced t o facilit at e com m erce and com m ercial act ivit y, as w ell as increase t he product ivit y of labour and ot her resources. Public t ransport in t he cit ies has also collapsed as t he public sect or (part icularly provincial governm ent s) com plet ely wit hdrew from invest ment , m anagem ent and operat ion in public t ransport , bot h w it hin and bet w een cit ies, aft er m id-1990s. Under franchise arrangem ent s, privat e com panies operat ed bus syst em s in a few m ajor cit ies for som e t im e but for lack of financing and infrast ruct ure, such as bus t erm inals, bus depot s, w orkshops et c., t hese syst ems are now reduced t o about 1200 operat ional buses in five m ajor cit ies of Punjab. The vacuum has been filled by poor qualit y and generally unfit 25-seat er M azda, 18-seat er Toyot a and 12-seat er Suzuki t hat are primarily ow ned by sm all operat ors. Bet t er regulat ion of road based public t ransport is required. It w ould involve realignment of exist ing rout es by bringing m ajor avenues wit hin cit ies int o t he public t ransport net w ork; auct ioning t hem t o privat e sect or; ensuring appropriat e num ber of buses for every rout e; declaring t he ext rem e left lane on m ajor avenues as bus-only lane; and willingness by insurance com panies t o provide coverage for new ent rant s against t he host ilit y of exist ing m afia.

56

M Sohail, ‘Urban public t ransport and sust ainable livelihoods for the poor, a case st udy: Karachi, Pakist an’, WEDC, Loughborough Universit y, UK 2000.

57

I A Qureshi and L U, ‘Urban Transport and Sust ainable Transport Strat egies: A Case St udy of Karachi, Pakist an’, Tsinghua Science and Technology, vol.12, no.3, 2007.

Box 7 – Public Transport M odel for Islamabad

Low son’s m odel offers rough and quick sket ches of a transport scenario for a grid cit y. It is easy t o apply the m odel t o Islam abad, w hich is a grid cit y. Figure 9(a) show s a m ap of Islam abad wit h 11 possible routes (round- t rips) in blue and red lines. Each rout e traverses t w o or m ore sect ors, w here each sect or is a square of length t w o kilom et res. Thus, short est rout e is bet w een t w o adjacent sect ors, t ot alling eight kilom etres and longest rout e w ould traverse six sect ors, t ot alling 24 kilom etres. According t o Law son’s m odel, highest journey speed of 15 km / hr is at t ained w hen a bus m akes a st op aft er every 0.5 km.

Thus, it w ill t ake t w o minut es t o cover 0.5 km (dist ance betw een t w o st ops). Assum ing t hat tw o buses m aint ain a dist ance of eight bus st ops (w hich is four kilom etres) betw een t hem , m axim um w ait ing t ime at each bus st op w ill be 16 m inut es. Three buses w ould be required on t he short est round t rip and seven buses on t he longest rout e. For t he 11 rout es, show n in chart 9(a) it is est im at ed t hat an average of six buses w ould be required per rout e. Thus t he t ot al num ber of buses required on all 11 rout es w ould equal 66.

This est im at ion is a sim ple applicat ion based on some sim ple assum pt ions for t he bus syst em . A m ore accurat e est im ate w ould consider: (a) dem and on each route, especially during peak versus off-peak hours; (b) bus capacity; (c) t raffic densit y (w hich again w ould depend on t he hour of t he day); (d) shapes of t he rout es (w het her buses go back and fort h on t he sam e avenue or m ake zigzag circuit s); and, (e) t he num ber of signal light s and w aiting t im e at t he signal light s or crossings, on each rout e.

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Box 7 – Public Transport M odel for Islamabad (contd.)

Such a m odel as explained above w ould allow passengers t o get anyw here wit h just one t ransfer. Each bus st op at t he intersection w ould also allow m obilit y in all four direct ions, except for bus st ops at t he out er corridor. Such a netw ork w ill bring t he bus t ravel time very close t o t ime t aken on a privat e car t o cover t he sam e dist ance. On t he longest rout e (I-11 t o F-5) it w ill t ake about an hour t o reach from hom e t o w ork.

To connect Islam abad wit h t he suburban populat ion, w hich is w here m ost low income people w orking in Islam abad reside, three m ore routes have been show n wit h green lines in Figure 9(a). Cit y rout es are not fixed—they can be realigned and the t ot al num ber of rout es can be increased or decreased depending on dem and. Figure 8 (b) show s possible alt ernat e rout es, connect ing t he cent re point of som e sect ors, w hich could eit her replace t he routes show n in Figure 8 (a) or be added to t he num ber of rout es.

To m ake this m odel w ork, Capit al Developm ent Aut hority (CDA) w ould have t o auct ion the rout es w hile ensuring t hat no bidder acquires t oo m any routes t o im pede com pet ition. Bidders m ust not be regulat ors or law enforcers. Also t he conditions of buses required on various rout es m ust be observed. Ticket ing can also be int roduced on bus st ops or via e-t icketing t o m ake boarding m ore efficient as done in Curit iba cit y, Brazil. Governm ent can also get int o a joint venture wit h privat e sect or w hich m ight help boost consum er confidence. Public private part nership st ruct ure and rules should be pre det erm ined and designed in cooperation wit h a business ent erprise council.

Source: Low son, M . (2004). “ Idealised models for public t ransport syst em,” Int ernat ional Journal of Transport M anagement .

In a sit uat ion w here rail-based cit y t ransport alone is seen as an expensive proposit ion and beyond t he m eans of m ost local governm ent s, a fully int egrat ed rail and road based net w ork t hat cat ers t o t he needs of Pakist an’s rapidly growing urban populat ion has becom e an unavoidable necessit y. For such int egrat ion of t ransport net w ork, st rong regulat ory inst it ut ions—in charge of m aint aining t ransport infrast ruct ure and regulat ing privat e t ransport operat ors—should be est ablished at provincial and dist rict level. Urban planners, apart from urban developm ent , should also be responsible for providing appropriat e space for t ransport infrast ruct ure such as t ruck st ands, bus t erm inals, bus depot s, w orkshops, et c. and t ransport relat ed act ivit ies like wholesale m arket s and w arehousing. Effort should also be focused at im plem ent ing t raffic m anagem ent m easures such as one-w ay t raffic, foot pat hs and cycle w ays, im proved signals, int ersect ion im provement s, bus bays, road m aint enance, road drainage, rem oval of encroachm ent s et c., t han on road building project s.