TransPeshawar, the operator of the state Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit service, ordered 24 new buses, citing increased ridership.
According to TransPeshawar spokesperson Sadaf Kamil, the buses will be included in the fleet soon. “The new buses are expected to arrive in the city within the next few weeks. “They’ll be 12 metres long and used in off-corridor routes,” she explained. According to the spokesperson, the company initially operated 158 buses on various bus corridors but received 62 additional buses by the end of 2021.
She also stated that in the coming days, TransPeshawar would keep operating buses on the new Super Express route from Chamkani to the Mall of Hayatabad. Ms Sadaf declared that the new route would accommodate the growing number of commuters who used express services, which stopped at only a few stations rather than all of them.
She further explained, “There is a massive influx of commuters on the ER-1 corridor, which increases in the morning and evening.” According to the spokesperson, the new route would run from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a half hour of travel.
Moreover, she stated that the route would include five stations: Sardar Ghari, Chamkani, Malik Saad Shaheed, the University of Peshawar, and the Mall of Hayatabad. Ms Sadaf also noted that the ER-4, a new route connecting Chamkani and Malik Saad Shaheed through Ring Road and Charsadda Road, would be operational soon. Another new route will connect Hayatabad to the Phase-VI terminal via Phase I.
Two more routes, from Regi Model Town to Amn Chowk and from Pabbi to Malik Saad Shaheed, are planned, she said. However, due to ongoing civil work and infrastructure development, both routes are possible to take some time to become operational. The company has recently opened the ER-12 route from Shah Alam Pul on Charsadda Road to Hayatabad Mall. “There are 10,000 commuters on this route every day,” she said.