Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif inaugurated the electric bus service in Multan, formally launching the project to provide modern and environment friendly public transport facilities to citizens. The Chief Minister boarded an electric bus from the e-bus stop established at Agro Mall on Shujaabad Road and travelled to Muhammad Nawaz Sharif University of Agriculture, where a ceremony was held, receiving a warm welcome from thousands of children, youth, students, and elderly residents along Old Shujaabad Road as rose petals were showered on her vehicle. The launch extends a pattern of similar electric bus inaugurations Maryam Nawaz has personally led across Punjab over the past year, following earlier rollouts in Lahore, Faisalabad, Sahiwal, and Dera Ghazi Khan.
Provincial Transport Minister Bilal Akbar briefed the gathering about the project’s structure, with the first phase set to see 45 electric buses operating on routes including Vehari Chowk to Nishtar Hospital, Ghanta Ghar to Ibn-e-Sina Hospital, Dera Adda via DHA-Women University and e-Khidmat Centre, and Chungi No 9 to Nag Shah and NADRA Abad Phatak. Additional services will run between Vehari Chowk and Qasim Bela, and between Ghanta Ghar and Qadirpur Raan, giving the initial rollout a fairly broad geographic spread across Multan’s urban core rather than concentrating on a single corridor. Akbar said 160 electric buses will eventually operate across different cities and areas within Multan Division during this first phase, with the total figure expected to reach 205 buses once the project is fully built out across the division.
The Multan launch follows the same operational template used in earlier Punjab electric bus rollouts, where buses have typically included features like Wi-Fi, mobile charging ports, CCTV cameras, and dedicated compartments for women passengers, alongside fares generally set around Rs20 per ride to keep the service affordable for daily commuters. Punjab’s broader electric bus programme has expanded steadily since the first fully electric service launched in Lahore in February 2026, running from Lahore Railway Station to Green Town, with subsequent launches following in Sahiwal, Dera Ghazi Khan, Faisalabad, and Rawalpindi as the province worked through a phased citywide rollout plan. The programme has consistently been framed by the provincial government as part of a broader push toward sustainable, eco-friendly urban transport infrastructure across Punjab’s major cities.
For Multan specifically, the electric bus service adds a modern public transport option to a city where residents have previously relied primarily on conventional bus services and private transport for daily commuting. With 160 buses planned across the division in this initial phase and a longer term target of 205 buses, the practical impact for commuters will depend on how quickly the remaining routes come online and how reliably the service operates once daily ridership scales up from the initial launch. As Punjab continues rolling out electric buses across additional cities under its broader public transport modernization agenda, Multan’s launch marks another data point in a programme the provincial government has consistently used as a visible symbol of its infrastructure investment priorities.
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