ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Development Asad Umar on Sunday announced that Prime Minister Imran Khan will inaugurate the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) service in Karachi on December 10.
The planning minister took to his official Twitter handle to make the announcement about Karachi’s “first modern transport system”. The new system will, hopefully, solve the transport woes of the citizens of Karachi.
The PM @ImranKhanPTI will inshallah inaugurate Karachi’s first modern transport system, greenline BRT, on the 10th of December.
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) December 5, 2021
On November 28 Asad Umar stated that the Karachi Green Line project will be ready for a trial run in the next 10 days. He maintained that the project was reviewed in “detail” last month.
“After the trial run Prime Minister Imran Khan will come to Karachi and inaugurate the project,” Umar wrote. Furthermore, after a trial of “about two weeks” the commercial operation will launch on December 25, he claimed.
Earlier in September 2021, the first consignment of 40 BRT buses reached the Karachi Port from China. The Greenline runs from Numaish to Surjani. Its route is Surjani, New Karachi, KDA Chowrangi, Sakhi Hasan, North Nazimabad and Nazimabad and then Numaish.
The 18-meter-long buses have 40 seats and can accommodate 140 people at a time. The imported vehicles are of Euro 3 standards that means 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. The government is planning on training 200 men and women to operate the buses, Shah Zaman, the country head of the vehicle company, said.
Bus rapid transit allows buses to rapidly move in a corridor dedicated to them. This strip or corridor is set aside for them in the middle of wide roads. This allows the stream of buses to move up and down without getting ensnared in regular traffic.
The rest of the width of the road is used by regular traffic such as cars and motorcycles. But even they can move easily because buses are not stopping in the middle of their corridors. BRT is essentially the separation of different types of traffic so they move smoothly.
