Country’s first electric bus service inaugurated in Karachi

Sindh Information and Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon along with Local Government Minister Syed Nasir Hussain Shah and Labour Minister Saeed Ghani on Friday inaugurated Pakistan's first electric bus service in Karachi.

Sindh Assembly member Ghanwar Isran, Transport Secretary Abdul Haleem Shaikh, Sindh Mass Transit Authority Managing Director Zubair Channa, National Radio Telecommunication Corporation (NRTC) Project Director Sohaib Shafiq and other officials were also present on the occasion.

According to a statement issued, the provincial ministers reviewed the facilities in the Electric Vehicle (EV) Peoples Bus Service and also travelled in an electric bus. Speaking to the media, Memon said Pakistan's first electric bus service had started on Friday in Karachi. He explained that the buses under the service were environment friendly as they would run through electric power.

Capable of covering a distance of 24 kilometres from a single charge, these buses of the European standard, he said, would not spread any kind of pollution. He added that along with reducing pollution in the city, the new bus service would provide best travel facilities to the citizens at minimum fares.

He said that the bus service was being started from Tank Chowk Jinnah Avenue to the airport, Sharea Faisal, FTC Building and Korangi Road towards Defence Housing Authority’s Khayaban-e- Ittehad to Clock Tower at Sea View.

He said that passengers traveling to the Jinnah International Airport had no such bus facility in Karachi. He said that citizens used private vehicles or cab services which charged them a fare of up to Rs1,500. “But in the EV bus service, citizens can now travel to the airport for just Rs50,” he said.

He said that the Sindh government is grateful for the cooperation of the Civil Aviation Authority which allowed the bus service to enter the airport premises.

Memon said that providing best public transport facility to citizens across the province was a top priority of the Sindh government of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). He added that PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari had given instructions to all the members of the Sindh cabinet to provide maximum facilities to the people and former President Asif Ali Zardari also took special interest in resolution of the public issues.