PESHAWAR: Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), a flagship project of the PTI government is providing quality transport service to commuters as over 60 million utilised its service during last one year. The service which was launched by the Prime Minister Imran Khan in August 2020 is commuting 2,20,000 people, particularly students and government employees on daily basis.

Around 50 million commuters have utilised the service during the current year despite lockdowns and travelling restrictions due to enormous pressure of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to an official of the TransPeshwar, the operator of the BRT, the service has increased the number of the commuting women from two percent to over 20 percent within a short period.

Till to-date, over one million Zu cards have been sold and 30 new buses have been included in its fleet. 349 old and dilapidated public transport buses and wagons have been scrapped after purchasing it from their owners. The move, he said aimed to arrest air pollution and traffic jams in Peshawar. Similarly, keeping in view the massive response of passengers, he said BRT’s express routes have been increased and the unique ‘Zu Bicycle Sharing System, has also been introduced through 360 modern Zu bicycles beside establishment of 32 Docking Stations and starting of latest Zu Mobile Application Peshawar facilitating hundreds of thousands passengers daily.

Special seats are reserved for persons with disabilities, transgender and women under universal access system so that people from all walks of life are facilitated. Under Green Vision of Pakistan, he said that 3,000 trees were planted by BRT’s administration in Peshawar to combat air pollution and launched special campaign to create awareness among people about coronavirus, polio and others issues.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021