KARACHI: After almost six years since its groundbreaking, the federal-funded Green Line Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRTS) has started commercial operations for the public on Saturday.
More than 80 buses in its fleet will shuttle between Surjani Town and Numaish Chowrangi. The fare table is likely to ranging from Rs15 to Rs55 depending on distance.
The Green Line route is Surjani, New Karachi, KDA Chowrangi, Sakhi Hasan, North Nazimabad and Nazimabad and then Numaish. For now, however, limited stations have been opened for the public as work on some of the stops and tracks is still underway.
The imported vehicles are of Euro 3 standards that mean that the carbon monoxide emissions from the buses are reduced. The hybrid vehicles will be run on batteries and diesel. They have a special ramp for people with disabilities and the seats installed in them have dual space.
On Dec 10, the project was launched for its “soft and trial operation” by Prime Minister Imran Khan with a limited number of buses plying on the route to check and remove any flaw. The trial, an official said, met with success and no major problem was cited.
A few issues were noticed at different stations along the route while passengers boarded and got off the buses. These issues were addressed immediately, he added.
“Some 60 passengers can travel on seats and as many can avail the service by standing in the in the two-portion buses with no rush-like situation,” he said.
“The buses can move at 50 kilometres per hour but in most cases slower speed is recommended. There are more than 20 stations after every few kilometres, so maintaining a high speed is not practically possible,” he added.
Envisaged and executed in Feb 2016 by then prime minister Nawaz Sharif, the project was originally scheduled to be completed within a year with an estimated cost of around Rs16.85 billion.
However, it took almost six years to complete and the cost has shot up to Rs35bn by now. The project was approved by the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) and executed by the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Limited.
