Karachi: the transport crisis

The public transport sector of the country’s largest city is on the verge of collapse owing to a history of failure, negligence, inefficiency and lack of follow-through in both government and public-private partnership projects, says a report. The report, titled ‘Karachi: the transport crisis’, has been compiled by renowned city planner and architect Arif Hasan with Mansoor Raza and staff at the Urban Resource Centre. The report, which draws on almost 200 interviews with government officials, transporters’ representatives and members of the public, paints a bleak picture of the current scene, with transporters crippled by high fuel costs and limited government support, and the public caught between rising prices and a simply inadequate number of available options.