LAHORE: A fleet of about 140 buses was being imported and is expected to reach Lahore by the middle of July, 1968, Mr Aslam Ovais, Chairman of the West Pakistan Road Transport Board, told [agency] here on Friday [May 17].

The Chairman disclosed that at present nearly 2,100 buses were plying in the Province. Out of these, 600 buses have already been replaced by new ones and with the commissioning of 140 more buses the first phase of replacing the old carriages would be completed. The board had a plan to replace 33pc of its buses during the first phase.

Mr Aslam Ovais further said that the Provincial Road Transport board have decided to start Karachi Omnibus Service from June 1 this year. He said, to begin with, a fleet of one hundred buses would be put into service in Karachi and according to programme this number would be increased to 800 within two years, which he said, would be 40 per cent of the entire buses plying in the Province,

Replying to a question the chairman said it had been decided to split Karachi into southern and northern zones and private buses would be allowed to ply in northern zone whereas the omnibuses would operate in the southern zone.— Agency

Published in Dawn, May 20th, 2018