Orange Line buses reach depot after port clearance

A bus fleet of the Orange Line Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), which is also known as the Edhi Line, reached its depot late on Tuesday night after clearance from the Karachi port.

Sindh Minister for Information, Transport and Mass Transit Sharjeel Inam Memon termed it good news for the people of Karachi and said that the launch of the bus service was nearing as the fleet of 20 buses had reached the depot and trial operations would soon kick off.

In a statement, he maintained that 97 per cent of the infrastructure work on the corridor had been completed, adding that the Orange Line would be launched once its system’s installation and the mandatory training of bus drivers were completed.

Memon said the bus service would provide safe and comfortable travelling facilities to the residents of Orangi, Banaras, North Nazimabad and the surrounding areas. He said the Orange Line buses will shuttle along a 3.88- kilometer-long corridor which starts from the Town Municipal Administration Office (Orangi Town) and ends at the Fatima Jinnah University for Women, Nazimabad. From that point, the BRT is supposed to join the track of the Green Line BRT and run towards Nagan Chowragi. As many as four stations equipped with modern facilities have been constructed along the corridor.

It is estimated that 50,000 people would travel daily on the BRT Orange Line. The minister said that preparations of a design for the integration of the Orange Line BRT into the Green Line BRT had already been ordered so as to make it cost-effective and lessen the burden of subsidy on the Sindh government.

He said that the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company had started working on the integration design. He added that after the integration of both the BRTs, the Orange Line buses would run till Nagan Chowrangi.