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Long-thread: A Sunday morning well-spent exploring Lahore’s Orange-line Light-rail metro train with @gulraizkhan.

One thing I can tell about the experience is that it was in nowhere any less than the best Metros in the developed West.

 This project will remain divisive, and in no way I intend on converting anyone. Skip.

Neither will its utility increase nor decrease by this Twitter cost-benefits blabbering.

What I am truly happy about is that Orangeline is owned and being used by those who need it the most.
The cars we use have a Heater & AC. The new ones also have a cabin filter against pollution. They harm everyone outside but user is safe inside. Then cars also cause congestion and accidents.

We don’t realise it while driving, but navigating spaces is important for everyone. https://t.co/cslnCL00zv
We know that cars, which serve less than 20% of all trips, are bad for our cities. Yet they have been getting disproportionately higher share in budgets in the form of allocations for Road in Transport spending.

A mass transit project flips this equation.
There is also very real loss that construction works of the project caused, which, we, as bystanders, cannot fully understand.

We need to move to inclusive infrastructural planning, rather cold-hearted bureaucratic logic which dictates that who loses.

https://t.co/XjHSUsKpjR
But, now, there’s also this upper class outrage, which seemingly bangs head on a wall and comes up with new financial figures every time OLMT is mentioned, or how many Mehrans could be bought.

There’s reason for it. They won’t be using it. So, it’s unnecessary; too costly. https://t.co/qrlWjSZXNr
I am going to quote the IGC study on Lahore’s Greenline BRT (Metrobus), which is one study that compared baseline v. impact.

Find here: https://t.co/2sxFaJe6mc

So, back to my previous point: the Educated upper-class did not use Public transport, because they had alternatives.
The BRT (Metrobus), however, managed to make a dent on this attitude.

The fact that a clean, safe, respectable mode of transport was available meant that even White-collar labour started using it.

Just imagine the improvement relative to blue-collar and working classes.
On the side, an unnoticed labour market transformation happened.

*Lahore* Metrobus actually serves 2 more districts, bringing in Labour through Shahdarah & Gajjumata, among them those who travel > 30 mins by vehicle to reach.

Arrive, work, go back home. No need to rent in city.
Here’s a byproduct.

For similar journeys to the Center of the city (i.e. Kalma Chowk), both
• travel fares declined to less than Rs. 50 (more so around Rs. 25)
• travel times reduced by 25-30 mins

This realignment due to the corridor benefits those who don’t even use BRT.
Besides labour market, human capital, accessibility benefits, here’s the most obvious.

A (assumed) change of 35,000 people to Metrobus from private transport is estimated to offset 6,000 tonnes of CO2/y.

This is equivalent to a mature 30 year old plantation of 40,000 trees/y.
These outcomes came from a Single BRT. The OLMT and Metrobus are a part of a 6 line synergetic network, which will create a feedback loop of linear increase in ridership and revenue.

Riders willingly pay more for good service.
There’s much to be said about what can be done, in terms of design, service, ticketing, revenue.

That’s what Govt is for. It can either do what the rest of the world does, or claim that we are failing.

Now this has to follow to other cities. Don’t ruin cities with more cars. https://t.co/OtPbCfff5A
The KCR revival will cost $2.2bn. In any case, Karachi needs it.

Questioning the utility of such public transport projects is like prolonging your illness by delaying an important surgery.

Questioning how we do these projects deserves focus, more than what for.
Side note: When we got here, the place seemed like we’d seen the architecture somewhere. @gulraizkhan remembered it seemed like Berlin’s Hauptbahnhof (2nd pic) train platforms, but I think it’s closer to Alexanderplatz, Berin (3rd pic).
Last, but not the least, the jewel of OLMT, the Anarkali station.

Hardly says anything on the outside; can easily be understood to be Anarkali’s resting place. But as long as the “Thanks LDA” posters torn at the bottom is infront of it, I think people can find it.
Replug: For all the routes envisioned to be under “#LahoreMetro” (all in all 200-300 km), refer to this map designed by @mahmooyo.

This only includes the 4 main routes. Secondary extensions and feeder routes (many of which are already active) are not included. https://t.co/DcO9hYTscZ

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BJP is planning to undertake 'Rath Yatra' in Delhi's riot-affected areas to seek donations for Ram Temple on Feb 1. In 1990, L.K. Advani had launched Rath Yatra from Somnath to Ayodhya.

This thread covers the large scale killing which took place during the Yatra and it's impact.

Between April 1989 and April 1990, 262 people died in Gujarat, mostly were Muslims. In October 1990, days after Advani’s yatra began, 41 were killed in Ahmedabad. The same month, 52 were killed in Jaipur, 20 in Jodhpur, 33 in Lucknow, over 100 in Delhi, 37 in Assam,

[1]


18 in Patna and 165 in Hyderabad. Also in October, a pogrom against Muslims in Bhagalpur, Bihar, saw 960 killed in which 900 were Muslims. In November, 31 were killed in Agra, again mostly Muslim and 13 in Indore. In Dec, 60 were killed in Karnataka and 134 in Hyderabad.

[2]

Many parts of India remained tense for long periods of time. Between April and May 1990, three riots in Kanpur killed 30; between May and November 1991 more than 50 were killed in Varanasi. In May 1991, 26 including 24 Muslims were killed in Vadodara.

[3]

In October 1992, 44 were killed in Sitamarhi. On 6 December 1992, immediately after the Babri Masjid was destroyed, pogroms against Muslims broke out in Surat where 200 died, of whom some 95 per cent were Muslims. In Bhopal in December, 143 were killed.

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"MLs" do support the proletariat of Xinjiang & have the whole time. People like @Tursunali_7 & @GulnarNorthwest (and many others) who show the world the real Xinjiang via their everyday videos.

Shopkeepers like in this video below say

"Pompeo, we Xinjiang people hate you."


Or everyday working people like Zaynura Namatqari, who speak out against vicious & disgusting US lies and accusations about


.@qiaocollective have a brilliant thread of everyday proletarian Uyghurs speaking out against the harassment they face from the US and their paid


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It destroyed the credibility of David Cameron’s Coalition Government then and even more so in hindsight. It was military illiteracy on a grand scale. The problem wasn’t so much the reduction itself, but the fact that there was no real strategy behind it, no future plan.
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We hope the Integrated Review will provide a concrete response to this. In the meantime, the Integrated Operating Concept has been much talked about, but we have been left in the dark about what it signifies in terms of strategic priorities and a reconfigured force.
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