Public transport in an age of development

It augurs well for this country’s future and the public that the Transport Ministry is intending to enhance the fleet strength of our buses by importing some 500 more buses. This is proof that the transport authorities are abiding by a long term plan for the development of our transport sector, which is, of course, of crucial importance to the ordinary people of this country.

We hardly need to elaborate on the risks involved in continuing to depend on the private bus sector; the consequences of such dependence have been very plain to see. Suffice it to say that the ordinary people have suffered silently and stoically under the harassment heaped on them by a generally heartless and inconsiderate private bus sector since the late seventies, when this sector was brought into existence, with the expectation that it would be more a boon than a bane. If at all it has been a boon, it has been so in a very limited sense of that term and the reasons why this is so have been highlighted with such frequency and even exasperation by the public over the years that we would be doing something very superfluous by dwelling on these reasons here afresh.

The recent Alawwa train tragedy is bound to raise some issues which the authorities need to address but the position could be forthrightly taken that the state-run transport sector is a must for public convenience in travelling and an essential requirement for the majority of the public. It is encouraging to note that the state is not only keeping this firmly in mind but going all out to ensure that the wheels of public sector transport are in humming condition. Accordingly, we warmly welcome current plans to expand our state bus fleet, for instance.

We believe that the government is duty bound to ensure that the public is least dependent on the private bus sector. With the development process in the country reportedly gathering steam, it is up to the state to guarantee that public mobility is at a maximum and two ways in which this is achieved is by keeping the public transport system in running order and ensuring that infrastructure development, such as the sustenance of a sound road network, is continued without a hitch.

The quickening of the development process would require close planning and development of our public transport sector because easy mobility of the people is crucial for the flourishing of business and commerce, which go to the heart of growth and prosperity. For example, if our provinces are deprived of a sound transport system, coupled with good roads and highways, economic activity among the people would grind to a halt. It could be seen, therefore, that development and transport facilities need to grow in tandem.

Accordingly, leaving safe and affordable transport to the private sector would prove an impossible proposition. This is so because the private transport sector could not generally be expected to operate in accordance with the public interest entirely. For, their prime motive is private profit. Nowhere is this more visible than in the transport sphere. For instance, private bus operators are usually not sensitive to passenger comfort or convenience. Besides, rendering a courteous service seems to be farthest from their minds.

This, of course, should not be so. In the private bus transport sector we have the proof that the interests of the public and private sectors do not necessarily meet. It is the obligation of the state to ensure that these sets of interests come together and work in harmony. But, admittedly, this is no easy task. We believe that the state made things difficult for itself from the beginning by relying too greatly on the private bus transport sector. This dependence has been taken to such lengths over the years, that today it is possible for private bus operators to make it difficult for both the state and the people by wielding the strike weapon with no thought given to the public interest.

Therefore, it is about time that the state took things in hand.

One way of doing this is to limit its dependence on private bus operators by expanding on the state bus fleet. We urge the transport authorities to do this to the point to which they would not be dependent at all on the private bus sector. Acting with a sense of social responsibility is something that is expected of the public sector. However, meanwhile, the private bus sector should be compelled to operate in accordance with the public interest.