30 more buses of Peoples Bus Service reach Karachi

KARACHI: Another fleet of 30 buses for Peoples Bus Service has reached Karachi to join the bus service that was inaugurated recently by PPP Chairman and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, ARY NEWS reported.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon said from his Twitter handle that 30 more buses have reached Karachi port to join the Peoples Bus Service.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari formally inaugurated Sindh Intra-District People’s Bus Service project in Karachi on June 27. He was accompanied by Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Information and Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, and other members of the provincial cabinet.

According to Sindh Mass Transit Authority (SMTA), the minimum and maximum passenger fares of the new air-conditioned bus service would be Rs25 and Rs55 respectively.

Initially, the buses will operate on Route (R1) from Model Colony to Merewether Tower via Sharea Faisal and II Chundrigar Road. The SMTA has allocated 25 buses for the route No 1.

Around 240 air-conditioned will be plied on seven routes in Karachi as part of the intra-district bus project.

The other six routes include the areas from North Karachi to Indus Hospital (Korangi) distance 32.9km; Nagan Chowrangi to Singer Chowrangi (Korangi Industrial Area) 33km; North Karachi to Dockyard 30.4km; Surjani Town to PAF Masroor 28.2km; Gulshan-i-Bihar (Orangi Town) to Singer Chowrangi 29km and Mosamiyat to Baldia Town 28.9km.

The project

Under the same project, the provincial government has also chalked out a plan to run these buses in Hyderabad, Sukkur, Mirpurkhas and Shaheed Benazirabad as well.

The Sindh government has earmarked Rs4 billion in the next financial year budget 2022-23 for procuring more buses to be run in Karachi and other cities under its Sindh Peoples Intra-district Bus Project, commonly known as Peoples Bus Service.