PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has approved five additional routes of the Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) keeping in view the growing demand to facilitate the commuters of the capital city.

The approval came during a meeting of the KP Urban Mobility Authority’s board of directors chaired by Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, according to a statement issued here on Monday.

The chief minister directed the officials to take necessary steps to make the proposed feeder BRT routes functional by June this year.

Provincial cabinet members Taimur Saleem Jhagra, Shah Mohammad Wazir, Barrister Mohammad Ali Saif, additional chief secretary Shahab Ali Shah and other officials attended the meeting.

The newly-approved routes include 7.5-kilometre Hayatabad Phase 1; 12km Regi Model Town/Nasir Bagh Road; 7km Warsak Road; 4km Khyber Road; and 15km Chamkani-Pabbi Road.

The statement said orders had been placed for purchasing 86 new environment-friendly buses for these feeder routes.

The board also decided to reduce the security fee of Zu Bicycle, a bicycle sharing system, from Rs3,000 to Rs1,000, besides bringing down the fare for availing the service.

Mahmood Khan said the BRT service would be extended to remaining areas of Peshawar to help reduce environmental pollution in the city. He said the provincial government would provide the required financial resources for the project.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2022