Revitalization of Mass Transit System of Islamabad

Abstract

Mass transit system or public transport is a shared passenger transit service that is financially feasible, operationally efficient, and equitable. <[he current mass transit system of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi, which mostly comprises of mini buses is inefficient, reckless and is incapablc of handling the present user demand. The common problems of existing bus transit system in the twin cities include unreliable service, irregular frequency, poor route coverage, excessive transfer requirements between routes, low profitability, excessive subsidy requirement, poor quality vehicles, poor safety performance, pollution caused by buses/ mini vans, mistreatment of passengers, violence between operators etc. Moreover due to the current energy crises, hike/ inflation in petroleum/ eNG prices, and congestion in urban areas, establishment of a suitable alternative mode of transport is an imperative requirement. 'The projects essential idea was to devise a plan by conducting a feasibility study to improve the condition and service of the existing public transit facility and bring it at par with the international standards by analysis of ridership data, existing routes, and existing mass transit systems around the world. Keeping in view the requirements of the residents and the current transportation infrastructure of the twin cities. the evaluation of the existing system has been done to design/propose a mass transit system for Islamabad that is efficient, cost effective and equitable. The project includes the review of the most common problems affecting the bus systems along with a list of statistics and performance measures designed to measure the extent of these problems. Review of the common problems helped in the identification of the required benchmarks and by comparing these benchmarks and indicators with the existing system's data the extent of problems in the existing public transit system were assessed. It is anticipated that with the implementation of such Mass Transit System. the consequent reduction in the road traffic will lessen the traffic pollution and fuel consumption and in turn mitigate the issues of congestion and resulting delays. Hence the overall transportation management within the twin cities will be upgraded to a considerable extent from its current dilapidated state.