KARACHI: Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari inaugurated the intra-city bus service ‘Peoples Bus Service’ in Karachi on Monday. The fare cost has been kept from Rs25 to Rs50.

FM Bilawal travelled on the bus and reviewed the facilities.

“The Peoples Bus Service will commence its operations on Route 1 from Model Colony to Tower covering 29.5 kilometres and having 38 stations. Seven routes were finalised in Karachi on which 240 buses will operate,” said the press release.

Sindh Information Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon, who also holds a portfolio of transport, said more buses will be inducted on Route 1 after 10 days.

Talking to media, Memon said the old buses would be replaced with the new ones on those routes where people’s bus service was being introduced.

The ceremony was scheduled to start at 12 noon, however, it got delayed.

Workers marked bus service’s stop lane on both tracks of the Shahrah-e-Faisal road.

This will be the second mass transit project in the city after the Green Line Bus Service, which was inaugurated on December 10, 2021, by former prime minister Imran Khan. The inauguration of the Peoples Intra District Bus Service comes almost a month before the second phase of local government in Sindh that is scheduled to be held on July 24.

Salient features

• Minimum fare is Rs25 and the maximum fare is Rs50
• Reserved seats for women and differently-abled persons
• Diesel-hybrid buses
• 240 air-conditioned buses procured
• Seven routes

Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah and Memon would attend the inauguration ceremony.

The project would create more than 3,000 jobs for the people and would generate revenue in terms of service tax, according to the Sindh Mass Transit Authority. Depots and bus stops will be developed.

Routes

• Model Colony to Tower, which is 29.5km
• Nagan Chowrangi to Singer Chowrangi [Korangi Industrial Area], which is 33km
• North Karachi to Indus Hospital [Korangi] distance 32.9km
• North Karachi to Dockyard 30.4km
• Surjani Town to PAF Masroor 28.2km
• Gulshan-i-Bihar [Orangi Town] to Singer Chowrangi 29km
• Mosamiyat to Baldia Town 28.9km