Lagos joins the metro club. Will mass transit be expanded in Pakistan's cities?

Integrated mass transit systems remain complete in Pakistan due to political reasons

LAGOS/LAHORE (Web Desk) – A long-awaited Lagos light rail service began operations on Monday as Africa's most populous city looks to ease its chronic travel congestion, Reuters reported.

Lagos's more than 20 million residents experience regular traffic gridlock, forcing frustrated motorists and commuters to spend hours in traffic, but the new service is expected to dramatically slash travelling times.

A journey that once took more than two hours will now take just 15 minutes, Lagos state officials have said, according to Reuters.

The bustling city in Nigeria – a resource rich country which is the most populated country and also the largest economy in Africa – but had been facing severe economic problems which reminds us the state of affairs in Pakistan.

Only six cities – Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Multan, Peshawar and Karachi – in Pakistan have mass transit. However, these systems are incomplete and can’t cope with the passengers’ volume as the majority of them still uses redundant and expensive modes of transport.

And the higher transportation costs thanks to skyrocketing fuel prices means they are spending a huge chunk of their daily or monthly income on shuttling between their homes and workplaces.

Read more: Skyrocketing transportation cost means people need mass transit system even more

With these incomplete integrated transit systems already serving hundreds of thousands of people daily, one can’t forget how the introduction of modern transport service in Pakistan had created a hullaballoo over alleged wastage of resources.

Not only political parties but also media, “economic experts” and “human rights activists” had become part of a campaign that first hindered their progress and later completely halted the process.

Meanwhile, Reuters says Lagos’s metro system became operational four decades after it was first mooted. The 13-km first phase - dubbed the Blue Line and built by China Civil Engineering Construction Corp - links the mainland part of the city where most people live with the more affluent Lagos Island, where many businesses are headquartered.

The metro system has been dogged by funding and administrative delays since it was initially planned in 1983. Lagos officials held a formal opening ceremony for the service in December but it has not actually carried passengers until now.

Marking the opening of the electric-powered service, one of its blue-coloured trains on Monday carried its first passengers, including state governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, who said adequate security had been provided to prevent vandalism of the rail infrastructure.

Construction of the second phase of the rail project is expected to begin later this year and on completion the metro is expected to carry some 500,000 passengers daily, officials say.