Metro malfunctions: imported buses cannot bear local heat

1
565

Only months after the Metro bus service’s inauguration, the so called state of the art buses have developed various problems including air-conditioning failure, while many broke down due to heating up, stopping en route, causing great inconvenience to commuters.

The celebrated buses developed faults right after the project’s inauguration, when automatic brake failure resulted as the buses could not withstand passengers beyond their capacity. Moreover, the computerized system also crashed in some of the buses and foreign experts had to be called in.

“The buses have not been designed for such extreme hot weather, hence their engines are creating issues,” a Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) senior official seeking anonymity told Pakistan Today.

The Punjab government imported 45 buses for the 27 kilometres long metro bus route from Gajju Matta station to Shahdara and recently ordered 19 more buses for the same route. The buses were especially designed for the BRTS route and the emergent problem has put its technical standards in question.

Further, the official disclosed that Volvo and Sunwin have been called for fixing the problem. “A detailed check up of the buses is ongoing to avoid this fault in the future as 19 more buses are on their way from Turkey. Changes will be made in them in advance to counter the overheating and air conditioning fault,” the official added.

The Punjab government is paying a huge subsidy on running the metro bus, and now the repair work would bleed the provincial budget further. “The last time the company refused to compensate for the fault too, citing the pretext that the bus’ seating capacity had been exceeded. We do not know what position they will take this time,” disclosed a BRTS technical expert.

1 COMMENT

  1. Mr SS will arrange repair of the BRTS buses soon after taking oath. He will recover the money being spent on the buses from the interim CM of Punjab. He knows how to handle these crooks.

Comments are closed.