Bus Rapid Transit service wins international award

PESHAWAR: A ceremony at the Chief Minister’s House on Thursday praised the efforts of the TransPeshawar for achieving an international service award.

The Peshawar’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system has been ranked as Gold Standard Service by the technical committee of BRT Standard, which is the highest internationally recognized standard that any BRT system can achieve.

The Technical Committee of the BRT Standard comprises experts on BRT that evaluate bus rapid transit-based on international best practices.

The ceremony was attended by Minister for Higher Education Kamran Bangash, Member Provincial Assembly Syed Fakhar Jehan, government officials, members of the International BRT standard committee, representatives of ADB and others.

Kamran Bangash stated that it is a matter of honour for Peshawar and the government that Pakistan achieved the world highest possible ranking in BRT.

He said Pakistan had become first in the subcontinent, third Asian and seventh country worldwide to receive Gold Standard Service Ranking Award.

Kamran Bangash said that Peshawar’s BRT is the recipient of this award due to its passenger-oriented services, bus routes based on passenger needs, adopting clean technology for buses, improving safety, promoting non-motorized traffic, and utilization of all possible and maximum resources to facilitate the public at large.

He appreciated the BRT service providers for their untiring and continuous efforts, terming the achievement a matter of pride for Pakistan.

Peshawar’s BRT was inaugurated by Prime Minister Pakistan Imran Khan on the 13th of August 2020.

TransPeshawar has said that daily ridership of the service has crossed 250,000 commuters, adding that 20 per cent of the riders are women and 60 per cent of low-income people use it for daily commute.

Dr Walter Hook, a member of the technical committee of the BRT Standard, said that BRT Peshawar was consistent in almost all respects in international best practices.

Chief Executive Officer TransPeshawar Fayyaz Khan said that since the start of the BRT operations, more than 71.2 million people have used it.

He stated that TransPeshawar would ensure to maintain the Gold Standard by delivering high standard services to the commuters.