Pakistan : Karachi Bus Rapid Transit Red Line Project

Energy / Renewable energy generation - biomass and waste

Transport / Transport policies and institutional development - Urban public transport - Urban roads and traffic management

The proposed project will help increase the use of quality public transport in Karachi by delivering the 26.6-kilometer (km) Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Red Line corridor and associated facilities, directly benefiting 1.5 million people. The project is economically justified by major time savings for BRT passengers; vehicle operating cost savings; and better air quality and reduced carbon emissions through an innovative waste-to-fuel scheme, which will improve the public health and mitigate climate change. It will also make Karachi safer, greener, and more inclusive and competitive.

The project is aligned with the following impact: quality of life in Karachi improved. The project will have the following outcome: use of quality public transport in Karachi increased.

Karachi is Pakistan's largest city and its main seaport and economic and financial center. The population of this fast-expanding megacity was estimated at 15 million in the 2017 census, and 23 million for the metropolitan area. Karachi is one of the most densely populated cities in the world and is consistently ranked as one of the world's most unlivable cities, largely because of traffic congestion and induced air and noise pollution. Car and motorcycle ownership is still low but fast-increasing because of a growing middle class. With other factors such as weak traffic management and inefficient public transport, rapid motorization worsens congestion and pollution. Karachi is one of the largest cities in the world without a formal public transport and mass transit system, and until 2015, large investments in flyovers reflected the prioritization of private road transport over public transport.

Karachi's transport system does not deliver mobility for all and is marked by long commute times, the rise of private and paratransit modes, and the decline of public transport (Table 1). Services are provided by paratransit vehicles and about 4,000 privately owned buses, which together serve 2.8 million passengers daily. These weakly regulated services are irregular and lack designated stops and customer standards. Drivers compete and pull over to pick up passengers at will, or wait idling on the side of the road until their vehicles are full, worsening congestion and impairing safety. During peak commute times, it is common for passengers to sit on the roof or hang from the side of moving vehicles. Vehicles in this informal network tend to be old and poorly maintained, leading to increased emissions and higher operating costs. Services tend to be costly for the urban poor, as customers must pay for each transfer between modes. Therefore, 40% of all city trips are still being made on foot. Karachi's poorest, women, children, elderly, and people with disabilities would benefit from a safe, efficient and accessible public transport system.

Quality of life in Karachi improved

Use of quality public transport in Karachi increased

Red Line BRT corridor and associated facilities constructed

BRT operations established

UNDP will participate to the project design, mainly through stakeholder engagement process and inclusive infrastructure design (i.e. technical design including inputs from future users), including awareness campaigns.

Under ADB Cluster TA and PPTA, a bus industry transition process will be initiated through negotiations with existing private bus operators, to include them at early stages in the BRT operational design.

The bus industry transition process, initiated during project design, will continue with the objective that current bus operators will become the operators of the new BRT system.

For operators not participating to future BRT operations, a fleet scrapping and compensation mechanism will be set up and financed under the loan.