Sindh govt finally brings hybrid buses for Karachi after 14 years

KARACHI: The Sindh government has finally managed to bring hybrid buses under its public transport project after 14 years, ARY News reported on Wednesday.

Owais Shah has become the first provincial minister who managed to successfully execute a public transport project for the Sindh capital Karachi.

For the last 14 years, five transport ministers had announced projects, however, it could not be executed. The public transport project had been announced by the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) minister Owais Qadir Shah.

The first shipment of more than 121 diesel-electric hybrid buses has been departed from two ports in China to Karachi.

The Sindh government has already established bus stops for the hybrid inter-city transport project in different parts of the metropolis.

Under the latest project, the hybrid buses will be run on more than 15 routes in the six districts of Karachi. According to Shah’s announcement, the Sindh Transport Department will purchase 240 modern buses for Karachi and 10 for Larkana.

READ: SINDH TO PURCHASE 250 DIESEL HYBRID BUSES

The first shipment of the hybrid buses had been delayed from China due to the coronavirus pandemic and spring festival.

In another development today, in a significant move, the Green Line bus service has extended its operational timings by two hours to facilitate the Eid shoppers.

The SIDLC department made this decision considering the expected shopping rush ahead of Eidul Fitr. As per the new timings, the buses will now be operational from 7 am till 11.30 pm from Abdullah Chowk to Numaish and from 7 am till 12.30 am (after midnight) from Numaish to Abdullah Chowk.

During the normal Ramazan routine, 80 buses remained operational between 7 AM and 10 PM.

In a statement, SIDCL official Abdul Aziz said: “We decided to extend the timings of the bus operations by another couple of hours keeping in mind that there are several shopping centres and malls along the Green Line route where passengers would like to stop over for their Eid shopping after iftar and even after the Taraveeh prayers.”

It is pertinent to mention here that the Green Line bus service had become fully operational from Jan 10, with 80 buses covering a track of 21 kilometers from 6 in the morning till 10 at night. The buses arrive at the station after every three minutes.