KP govt purchases 50 buses for BRT, gets two free

PEHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has purchased 50 more buses for the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system at a cost of Rs2.139 billion rupees, taking the total fleet to 296 once all the new buses are delivered.

Provincial Finance Adviser Muzammil Aslam said that 25 of the newly purchased buses had arrived in Peshawar, while 27 more would be delivered in the next phase. Two of the 27 buses are being provided as a gift by the company, he said.

The arrival of the new buses has increased the BRT fleet from 244 to 269, while the total number will reach 296 once all the buses are delivered, Aslam said.

The Peshawar BRT currently operates on a 27-kilometre route with a fleet of 244 buses, compared with Lahore’s metro system, which covers 28-km with 64 buses, and Multan’s 18.7-km route, which operates with 43 buses, he said.

The Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro operates on an 83-km route with 99 buses, Aslam added.

He said Karachi, despite having a population several times larger than Peshawar, operates only 80 buses on its Green Line. Punjab, with a population of around 130 million, has 107 metro buses, he said.

The combined number of metro buses operating in Karachi, Punjab and Islamabad is 286, Aslam said.

According to TransPeshawar, five of the existing 244 BRT buses will be designated for women. Details of the routes for the pink buses will be finalised soon, the agency said.

TransPeshawar had recommended the purchase of 100 additional buses to address a shortage in the BRT fleet.

The proposed procurement included 50 diesel-hybrid buses and 50 electric buses.

Following approval from the provincial cabinet, the government decided to purchase 50 diesel-hybrid buses in the first phase, while another 50 electric buses would be purchased in the second phase.

The total cost of procuring the 100 buses was initially estimated at Rs3.2 billion, according to TransPeshawar.