AS the recruitment of house servants from Indonesia was halted for nearly two months last summer, Saudi families nonetheless coped with the situation. Family members took on various jobs and tried to run things as efficiently as possible. For instance, a friend of mine had to get a final exit visa for her driver about the time she was planning to take a summer vacation outside the Kingdom. Before she left, she applied for a new driver and hoped that when she got back, he would be there. Unfortunately, when she came back, recruitment in Indonesia had been halted.
A driver, however, is very important for her and for her mother who is old and sick. She was left to her own devices; she was forced to walk to nearby shops or use a limousine for trips further away. She and some family members wanted to go to Makkah for Umrah and there was nothing for them to do but use public transportation — SAPTCO. When they got to the bus station in Jeddah, she was pleasantly surprised by the public address system and the way that passengers were treated. In fact, she said she felt as if they were at an airport rather than a bus station. Once on the bus, she was happy to find the seats very comfortable and with adequate space between them. She also noticed a few other women traveling on their own. Things began to sour a bit on the way to Makkah, however. For some reason, the door would not stay closed and the driver kept having to pull over and close it. This made what should have been a short trip an unnecessarily long and tiresome one.
After performing Umrah, she decided to take the in-city bus service to a nearby mosque. She was shocked by the state of that bus. There was no airconditioning, seat covers had been ripped and the floor was completely dirty. In fact, as a Saudi, she felt embarrassed because most of the people on the bus were expatriates who had become to perform Umrah. She told herself that surely not all SAPTCO buses in Makkah would be in so deplorable a condition. She changed her mind, unfortunately, when she arrived at the Makkah bus terminal. Her heart fell when she saw the state of the buses. They should have been retired long ago! She wondered how SAPTCO officials could be so unfeeling and ignorant of the importance of Makkah to millions of Muslims. They come from all over the world and find public transportation in the Holy City a disgrace! Surely of all the cities in the Kingdom, Makkah should provide clean and modern buses. Doesn’t Makkah deserve better treatment and a better image?
When she and her family were ready to return to Jeddah, she discovered that SAPTCO’s terminal was located on the outskirts of Makkah. A long taxi trip was thus necessary. Quite unlike what she had seen in Jeddah, in Makkah she saw confusion, no shelter for passengers and the general feeling of being in an open market. Once on the bus, they found the airconditioning was not functioning and the driver made no bones about saying that the vehicle needed repairs and maintenance work. That trip from Makkah to Jeddah at midday is something that can’t be described; let’s just say it was hell on wheels.
Now even a first-grader can guess what I will have to say. Public buses should be regularly serviced and maintained. This includes doors, airconditioning and other safety factors, renovation of interiors, including seats, along with daily cleaning. The terminals should be within easy distance of the Holy Mosques.
Public transportation is very important for many reasons including environmental ones. It is easy and cheap and safer for women and children. Our population in the Kingdom is increasing and incomes are not rising so that keeps many people from buying cars. Public transportation should be an acceptable alternative. In fact, adequate public transport will encourage citizens and expatriates to use it and also to abandon dependency on foreign drivers. Traffic congestion and accidents would also be reduced. We should have a system that can be used and enjoyed by everyone and which would improve the Kingdom’s image. — [email protected]