PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has decided to launch air conditioned bus service in Peshawar to provide speedy and comfortable travelling facilities to the commuters.

The plan of launching the new bus service in Peshawar was approved in a meeting held here on Tuesday with Chief Minister Pervez Khattak in the chair, said a handout.

The CNG bus scheme will be introduced by multinational transport company ‘Bucephalus’ under public-private partnership. The company named after famous horse of Alexander the Great will invest initially $200 million with plying a fleet of 150 mini buses on Peshawar mass transit corridor-II, from Chamkani to Hayatabad, while 50 more buses will be added to this fleet after every six months.

Besides Bucephalus chairman Guillaume Jamart and chief executive Ali Arshad Khan, the meeting was also attended by Adviser to Chief Minister Shah Mohammad Khan Wazir, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mohammad Ishfaq Khan, Transport Secretary Sardar Abbas, CM Complaint Cell chairman and head of donor coordination Dilroz Khan and other officials concerned.

The representatives of the company said that following an agreement with transport department and node of chief minister, the bus service would be launched in June next year. The meeting was told that about 800 people would get employment in the bus service including trained lady drivers.

The 32-seat automatic mini-bus having separate portions for men and women will be run on the route in two shifts from 6am to 10pm. The bus will cover the 25-kilometre journey in 50 minutes with two minutes pause on every stop. The fare can be paid in cash, through card and SMS that will facilitate the people of Peshawar to reach their destinations timely and easily.

The chief minister asked the transport department to conduct another session with the company for identification and allocation of 100-kanal land for the bus terminal comprising stands, workshops and service stations of the company as well as fixation of the fares.

He said that the people of Peshawar needed affordable transport fares. He directed all the departments concerned to take effective and result-oriented steps to streamline and facilitate smooth flow of all sort of transport including the bus service.

The chief minister said that the company was running successfully its bus service in Belgium, Saudi Arabia, Dubai, USA and Eastern European countries. He said that the service would be extended to other cities of the province.

Mr Khattak also welcomed the offer of the company to launch electric rechargeable rickshaws. He said that the rechargeable auto-rickshaws would be launched in rural areas.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2014