The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has expanded the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system by purchasing 50 additional buses at a cost of Rs2.139 billion. This acquisition will raise the total number of buses in the fleet to 296 once all units are delivered.
Provincial Finance Adviser Muzammil Aslam confirmed that 25 of the newly acquired buses have already arrived in Peshawar, while the remaining 27 are expected in the next delivery phase. Notably, the bus company has provided two of these 27 buses as a complimentary gift.
With the arrival of these vehicles, the BRT fleet has grown from 244 to 269 buses, and the total will reach 296 upon completion of deliveries. The Peshawar BRT currently operates a 27-kilometre route with 244 buses, which is comparable to Lahore’s metro system covering 28 kilometres with 64 buses, and Multan’s 18.7-kilometre route serviced by 43 buses.
Meanwhile, the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metro runs an 83-kilometre route with 99 buses. Aslam highlighted that Karachi, despite its significantly larger population, operates only 80 buses on its Green Line, while Punjab, with approximately 130 million residents, has 107 metro buses. The combined metro bus fleet in Karachi, Punjab, and Islamabad totals 286 buses.
In a significant development for gender inclusivity, TransPeshawar announced that five of the existing 244 BRT buses will be allocated exclusively for women, with route details for these pink buses to be finalized soon.
To address the current shortage in the BRT fleet, TransPeshawar had initially recommended procuring 100 additional buses, comprising 50 diesel-hybrid and 50 electric buses. Following approval by the provincial cabinet, the government opted to first purchase 50 diesel-hybrid buses, with plans to acquire 50 electric buses in a subsequent phase. The total estimated cost for all 100 buses was Rs3.2 billion.
