Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) is believed to be a “revolutionary” project for the city’s transport system, with many new features that had been unavailable to the public previously.
BRTS consists of an 18-kilometer track with buses imported from Turkey, 45 of which have arrived already.
The entire project has been funded by the Punjab government with only technical assistance from Turkey.
A senior government official said, “We hope the project would be started in Karachi where traffic congestion is a major problem but the government cannot keep waiting for others to take initiatives.”
He further said that BRTS epitomizes a progressive Pakistan.
Buses are expected to arrive at bus stations every three minutes and have designated seats for women and disabled persons.
The project is expected to reduce the number of cars on Lahore’s roads and will also help in reducing pollution.
Furthermore, the buses will have announcements in Punjabi and Urdu.
The government also plans to extend the project on other major city roads with the Line 2 being introduced on Azadi Chowk, Circular Road and GT Road, while Line 3 on Thokar Niaz Baig to MAO College via Multan Road.
BRTS will have security cameras on each station with a centralised system of monitoring. Initially it is going to be a 17-hour bus service, and if need be it will be a 24-hour service. LCDs are also going to be put up on all bus stops.
The youth of the internship program is going to be stationed at the BRTS to guide the people in a new system of transportation. The project has created 1500 jobs.