The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has purchased 50 more buses for the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system at a cost of Rs2.139 billion, bringing the total fleet to 296 once all the new buses arrive.
Provincial Finance Adviser Muzammil Aslam said 25 of the new BRT buses have already reached Peshawar, while another 27 are expected to arrive in the next phase. Two of those buses have been gifted by the company.
Aslam said the BRT fleet has increased from 244 to 269 buses, and will reach 296 after the remaining buses are delivered.
He said the Peshawar BRT operates on a 27-kilometre route with 296 buses, compared with Lahore Metro’s 28-kilometre route served by 64 buses. Multan Metro operates over 18.7 kilometres with 43 buses, while the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro runs on an 83-kilometre route with 99 buses.
He added that Karachi, despite having a much larger population than Peshawar, has only 80 buses operating on the Green Line. Punjab, with a population of 130 million, has 107 metro buses, while Karachi, Punjab and Islamabad have 286 metro buses combined.
According to TransPeshawar, five of the existing BRT buses will be allocated for women, with details of their routes to be finalized soon.
TransPeshawar had recommended purchasing 100 additional buses,50 diesel-hybrid and 50 electric. Following cabinet approval, the first phase involved purchasing 50 diesel-hybrid buses, while 50 electric buses are planned for the second phase. The total estimated cost was Rs3.2 billion.
