The Sindh government has announced plans to further expand Karachi’s public transport fleet with additional electric and double decker buses, while simultaneously moving to extend the Peoples Bus Service to inter-city routes across the province. The announcements were made by Sindh Senior Minister and Transport Minister Sharjeel Inam Memon during a meeting of the Transport and Mass Transit Department, attended by Transport Secretary Asad Zamin, Sindh Mass Transit Authority Managing Director Saleemullah Odho, and other senior officials.
During the meeting, Memon confirmed that new electric and double decker buses will be added to Karachi’s existing fleet, while new routes connecting Khairpur to Rohri and Khairpur to Ranipur are set to begin operations next week. The minister also outlined plans to introduce inter-city bus services in Larkana, Dadu, Sehwan, Hyderabad, Sanghar, and other districts across the province in a phased expansion that extends the Peoples Bus Service network well beyond the boundaries of Karachi for the first time. The meeting also reviewed new routes for the Peoples Bus Service, distribution of Pink Electric Scooters, the electric vehicle taxi service, and ongoing and proposed mass transit projects across Sindh.
Memon announced that the Sindh government would purchase an additional 1,000 Pink Electric Scooters for women, building on the province’s existing scooter distribution programme that has sought to improve mobility and economic independence for women across urban and peri-urban areas. The transport expansion push comes after the Sindh government successfully relaunched double decker bus services in Karachi earlier this year, ending a gap of more than six decades since such services last operated in the city. The current fleet, which includes five diesel-powered double decker buses and 34 electric buses imported from China at a cost of Rs3 billion, has already been extended from its original Shahrah-e-Faisal corridor to additional routes including Malir to Tower, with the latest announcements signalling that the government intends to accelerate rather than slow down its public transport modernisation programme across the province.
Follow the SPIN IDG WhatsApp Channel for updates across the Smart Pakistan Insights Network covering all of Pakistan’s technology ecosystem.
