KARACHI: In a major development that will ease the public transport sufferings of Karachiites to some extent, the much-aviated intra-district ‘Peoples Bus Service’ has been officially inaugurated by Foreign Minister and PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari here Monday.
The PPP-led provincial government took around 14 years to introduce a modern air-conditioned public transport facility with a fleet of 240 buses to the dwellers of Pakistan’s biggest city which lacks an urban mass transit system.
The project comes at a time when the 2nd phase of the local bodies election date is fast approaching.
In the initial phase, the provincial government is operating buses on one route from Malir District’s Model colony to Tower, covering 29.5 kilometers and having 38 stations. The other buses will ply on six different routes, in the next phases, soon.
These air-conditioned buses have been imported from neighboring China.
Bilawal to inaugurate People’s Bus Service today
Bilawal Bhutto Zardari unveiled the plaque to inaugurate Intra-district Peoples Bus Service at Fatima Jinnah Road. He was flanked by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Transport Minister Sharjeel Memon and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani and others.
Administrator Karachi Murtaza Wahab took to twitter saying: “Peoples Bus Service has become operational & will operate from Malir Halt to Tower. He said the provincial government has procured 240 new hybrid air-conditioned buses for Karachi which will operate on 7 different routes,”
Transport Minister Sharjeel Memon said work on other transport projects, such as the Orange Line bus service and the Karachi Circular Railway, would soon begin.
He asked the people of Karachi to maintain these buses and to not ruin them in the larger interest of this city. Memon added that depending on the route, the minimum fare would be Rs25 while the maximum would be Rs50.
The other six routes include the areas from North Karachi to Indus Hospital (Korangi) 32.9kms; Nagan Chowrangi to Singer Chowrangi (Korangi Industrial Area) 33kms; North Karachi to Dockyard 30.4kms; Surjani Town to PAF Masroor 28.2kms; Gulshan-i-Bihar (Orangi Town) to Singer Chowrangi 29kms and Mosamiyat to Baldia Town 28.9kms.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022