ISLAMABAD – The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is expected tocontinue metro bus services in Punjab and Islamabad but will take measuresto minimize reliance on government subsidies and turn it into aself-sustainable service.

“As huge money has been spent on metro bus projects in Lahore, Rawalpindi,Islamabad and Multan, it would not be a wise decision to halt itsoperations,” said PTI spokesperson Fawad Chaudhry.

He said that metro bus services come under the provincial government’sjurisdiction and after taking charge of the government affairs, PrimeMinister-elect Imran Khan would be given a detailed briefing on metro busprojects.——————————

Chaudhry said that currently huge subsidies are being wasted on the metrobus services which are a burden on the government exchequer. The federalgovernment alone is bearing around Rs 2 billion subsidies onIslamabad-Rawalpindi metro bus services annually.

Different options including increasing fare and running it on Bus RapidTransit system (Peshawar-BRT) model would be deliberated upon to make metrobus service self-sustainable, PTI spokesperson added.

The government would not give subsidy for the BRT project, as the modeladopted to construct the BRT service is a 3rd generation model that isoperating in China.

In comparison to Lahore, Islamabad and Multan metro service which areentirely operating on a single route, Peshawar metro will operate 8different routes across the city with a fleet of 450 buses. It is alsoestimated that Trans Peshawar will facilitate 4.5 million commuters.

Currently, around 50 metro buses between Rawalpindi and Islamabad are beingoperated while the rest are parked at the depot due to less number ofcommuters. Around 100,000 passengers use metro bus daily against the targetof more than 150,000 commuters per day. As a result, the provincialgovernment did not bring more buses on the route.

Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMA) officials revealed that about 100percent increase in Islamaabd-Rawalpindi metro bus is expected in comingmonths as with the current fare, the service is not sustainable. The farein the metro buses is Rs 20 per passenger which may increase up to Rs 40-50per passenger. The government will have to either increase the subsidies orincrease fare to make the service sustainable, sources told.

Based on bus track length, the federal government is paying 60 percent ofthe subsidy and the rest is being paid by the Punjab government onIslamabad-Rawalpindi metro bus service. On behalf of the federalgovernment, the Capital Development Authority (CDA) is bearing over 60percent of the subsidy cost for the metro service. CDA had to pay around Rs4.23 billion by June 30, 2018 as per the agreement.

The bus service between the twin cities was started in 2015 but the matterof subsidy was undecided for the first year and a half.

The federal government then surrendered to the demands of the Punjabgovernment and decided it will pay for the majority of the subsidy via CDA.Of the 24 kilometer track, 14km is in Islamabad and 10km in Rawalpindi. InDecember 2016, Islamabad Mayor Sheikh Anser Aziz, who was also CDA chairmanat the time, signed an agreement with PMA to this effect.