KARACHI, March 28: The number of buses plying in Karachi under the Urban Transport Service UTS has once again reached 226 after 80 buses seized by various leasing companies were released due to the personal efforts of City Nazim Syed Mustafa Kamal, a city government release said on Tuesday.

The city government had launched the UTS with the cooperation of the Sindh government in 2001.

At that time 14 transport companies had qualified for operating buses in the city under the UTS scheme. They were allotted different routes and by the year 2004, the number of buses operating in the city rose to 250.

In the meantime, about 100 UTS buses went off the roads because the transport companies faced financial stress due to increase in fuel prices, besides some of the bus operators were declared defaulters by the leasing companies. This way, the number of buses operating in city declined to 140.

Taking note of the situation, the city nazim directed the transport department to take necessary action and bring more buses on the roads. The transport department held negotiations with the leasing companies and succeeded in refinancing 80 buses, which resulted in the increase in the number of buses to 226.

The transport department is still engaged in talks with the leasing firms and more new buses are expected to join the existing UTS fleet soon.—PPI