Karachi becomes first Pakistani city to run electric buses

[MenInG]

Despite Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry’s claims of making the federal capital the first city to have environment friendly electric transport in Pakistan, his political rival Pakistan Peoples Party’s government in Sindh took the lead and launched the country’s first electric bus project in Karachi on Tuesday.

Sindh Minister for Transport Owais Qadir Shah inaugurated the project under public-private partnership. The electric bus will run from Tower to Sohrab Goth and the fare for one stop will be as low as Rs10. The project will begin with 10 bus stops. Sapphire Group’s bus has a capacity of 37 seats.

Addressing the inaugural ceremony, the provincial transport minister said that the electric bus would be run on a trial basis from Tower via MA Jinnah Road and Shahra-e –Pakistan to Sohrab Goth.

He said the fare will be Rs4 per kilometre and the public transport will run seat to seat, adding that the number of these buses will be increased on a monthly basis.

By the end of this year, Shah said, the number of these environment friendly vehicles will rise to 100. He said that progress has also been made on the Sindh government's own bus projects.

In Karachi, the PPP government has done a commendable job in every field, he maintained. “BRT projects will also complete soon. We are also going to trade 250 buses very soon.”

Soon after the news started doing rounds on social media, the sci-tech minister took to Twitter to congratulate the Sindh government, specially Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah and his ministry, on their “remarkable step to add electric bus in Karachi Commuters system”.

He said his ministry fully supports the Sindh government in this “futuristic approach” and expressed the hope that the Punjab and Kyber-Pakhtunkhwa governments will also take the same route as soon as possible.

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2292281/karachi-becomes-first-pakistani-city-to-run-electric-buses

 

[Tubs]

Good news. I am pretty critical of Pak, but this is a good initiative.

 

[BouncerGuy]

Induction of 180 solar-powered buses into Karachi’s BRT system planned

KARACHI: The Sindh government has decided to induct 180 electric buses, powered by solar energy, into the bus rapid transit (BRT) system in order to provide cleaner and efficient transport to public and end the operational subsidy on fuel.

The decision was taken in a meeting between caretaker Sindh Chief Minister retired Justice Maqbool Baqar and an Asian Development Bank (ADB) delegation here on Friday.

The project aims to introduce electric buses on BRT routes. The buses will be integrated with the existing and future lines and will contribute towards long-term sustainability of the overall system.

The CM was assisted by senior bureaucrats including the transport secretary and the chairman of the planning and development (P&D) board.

The transport secretary said that under the project 170-180 electric buses would be inducted into the existing BRT routes of Green and Orange Lines.

“Partial electricity generation through solarisation under a wheeling mechanism could help reduce operating costs targeted to be covered through tariff and non-tariff with no requirement for operational subsidy,” the meeting participants were told.

The chief minister said that the Sindh government was exploring the transformative impact of electric buses to strive for cleaner and more efficient public transportation solutions in Karachi.

“The project aligns with the focus on climate change, resilience, and carbon credits,” he said, adding that the operational business plan of the project was going to commence by the end of this month.

P&D chairman Shakil Mangejo told F. Cleo Kawawaki, the head of the ADB delegation, that the Green and Orange Lines had been implemented in Karachi to facilitate estimated 50,000 passengers per day.

The ADB head said that the bank was working with the provincial government and would support the project.
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Induction of 180 solar-powered buses into Karachi’s BRT system planned

Buses will be integrated with Green and Orange lines; ADB delegation calls on caretaker CM, says it supports Sindh govt’s project.

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