One of the most controversial and dividing project of recent history was

inaugurated by PM Nawaz Sharif on 4th June, two months ago. As the dust is
settled now, Lets take a moment to analyze the Pros and Cons of Metro Bus
System, Do we really need Metro Bus?
Metro bus project is one of the top-tier projects of Pakistan. First Metro Bus
service was launched in Lahore on February 2013 by Chief Minister Shahbaz
Sharif with the cooperation of Turkish Government. The main aim of this
project was to provide comfortable yet efficient transportation system to the
major cities of Pakistan i.e. Lahore where the number of vehicles registration
for per thousand population was gradually increased from 95 to an alarming
number of 238 from 2001 to 2008.
Despite of the harsh criticism it faced, Metro ran very successfully in Lahore.
Therefore, recently Islamabad-Pindi metro Bus system has also been
launched. Moreover, Government has also promised to launch Metro bus
system in Karachi. From my personal research and public opinion I would
here like to share some of the Pros and Cons of Metro Buses.

Positive Attributes

Metro bus is an efficient and easy way of transportation for people who
mostly travel from one corner of the city to another for the sake of livelihood
on daily basis.

In Highly populated cities, mostly women and girls have to face the
consequences of unsafe transport especially when they choose to travel alone.
It provides safety and security predominantly for women.

Because of the separate tracks many of the major problems like traffic
jams and accidents chances are low for Metro buses.

Metro bus Project has modernized the transportation system of Pakistan

by providing stylish yet fast traveling buses. Moreover metro terminals also
provide free availability of Wi-Fi.

Metro track connects several commercial, residential and business areas

which provide opportunity to people with multiple jobs to easily travel from
one of their workplace to another in an inexpensive and cheerful way.

Negative Attributes

The heavy amount of 30 to 40 billion was spent on Metro bus project.

Pakistan has been going through major flaws of poverty, low education and
terrorism, thus in current state of affairs this huge amount should would have
been spent to overcome the main complications faced by Pakistanis.

The separate dedicated tracks used by the buses require much more
space, Metro buses should have used the old tracks and government should
have spent more on current roads instead of making one stand-alone road
dedicated specifically for metro bus system, especially when cities like Lahore
and Karachi face several of traffic problems and Road jams. Separate tracks
are also the wastage of huge amount of money.

Metro doesnt provide the facility of feeder routes and buses, and one
specific route doesnt cover many of the major areas of the city. Hence, cannot
be served as multipurpose route.

For the sake of this Jumbo Project many of Trees were cut down and
Green belts were eaten up which can definitely have a bad impact on
atmosphere, particularly when Pakistan is already in lack of sufficient natural
greenery.

Most of the funds of this plan were spent on the export of Buses and
development of separate road and it resulted in poor metro bus terminals
which lack a lot of the major needs.
The idea behind the project is really good, however the amount spent could
have been reduced if Government would have worked more on the already
built roads. In conclusion, I would say for a city like Islamabad where people
usually prefer to use their personal vehicles this project is a total wastage of
money and greenery. However, for more populated areas like Karachi and
Lahore where a better public transportation service is necessary, this project
can be fruitful, yet Government should limit the amount of money they are
planning to misspend on any of such future plans, as a substitute they should
work on building better roads which would definitely be more worthwhile.