Shortage of buses: Transport Dept shows reservations about BRT’s soft opening

PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Transport Department has shown reservations over the soft opening of the much-publicised Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project.

Sources close to the project said that due to the poor planning of the TransPeshawar, the company that is to run BRT, it was unable to provide all the buses.

They said the government would launch the project with 21 buses only in the first phase and this would create problems for Transport Department to tackle the rush of passengers.

The sources said that the secretary Transport in a recent meeting presided by the chief secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa showed reservations over the launching the bus service with limited number of buses.

It was learnt that in the meeting it was suggested to run the 21 buses only for the women, children and disabled persons as these were not enough to meet the requirement of all the passengers. However, the senior official expressed reservations over the soft opening and failure of the company to provide 220 buses for the launching of the project.

In the meeting, the sources said, the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) gave the assurance about the completion of all the works including buses’ routes, RTS system, bus stations, BRT signals and traffic lines for launching of BRT project by March 23.

As per a survey, about 375,000 passengers would daily travel in the buses.

The sources said that as per contract it was the responsibility of the TransPeshawar to make available all the buses before BRT’s launching.

As per the PDA documents, the BRT cannot be fully functional due to shortage of buses. Under the agreement, the TransPeshawar had to provide 220 buses for the opening of the bus service.

Under the plan, it said, 65 buses of 18 metres would run on the main corridor and 155 buses of 12 metres would ply the feeder routes.

However, after the soft opening only 21 buses of 12 meters would run on the 27 kilometers long track.

As per the schedule shared, it said, some buses of 12 metres would reach Peshawar on April 20 while 20 buses of 18 metres would arrive on June 15.

In the third phase, it said, 42 small and 15 long buses would reach Peshawar on July 30, 2019.

In the fourth phase, 20 long and 30 small buses would reach the provincial capital on September 30. In the final phase, it said, 10 long buses and 32 small buses would reach Peshawar on November 30.

On the other hand, PDA Director Ikramullah said the authority would complete all the arrangements for launching the bus service by March 23.

He said that 100 percent civil work had been completed on main corridor. He said the 20 kilometres long cycle track had also been completed.

He said the drainage work has also been completed, while 31 bus stations would be fully prepared by March 23 as final touches were being given to these stations.

He said the ramps were ready and escalators were being installed. He added that the Intelligence Transport System was also being installed.