RAWALPINDI: The Punjab Masstransit Company will fully resume the Metro Bus Service from Saddar to Pakistan Secretariat on Wednesday (today) after a break of five days due to security arrangements.

The bus service resumed operation on Tuesday only from Saddar to Faiz Ahmed Faiz station on 9th Avenue due to the closer of Red Zone in Islamabad.

Mohammad Wajid, Manager Metro Bus Service Rawalpindi-Islamabad, told Dawn that the metro bus service partially resumed on Tuesday from 10:15am till night between Saddar and Faiz Ahmed Faiz station. It will complete its route from Saddar to Pakistan Secretariat from Wednesday.

He said due to the closure of Red Zone, the capital administration did not give clearance to ply buses from 9th Avenue to the Secretariat.

However, he said after the opening of Red Zone for all kind of vehicular movements on Tuesday afternoon, it was decided to operate the buses on the route from Wednesday.

The metro bus service was closed due to the protest call given by TLP. The metro stations at Faizabad and in Blue Area were ransacked by TLP workers in 2017, 2019 and 2022 and the government had to spend millions to repair them.

On the other hand, residents of the twin cities suffered a lot due to the suspension of the metro service.

Mohammad Saleem, a resident of Satellite Town, said the government made glass structure around the stations which was a wrong decision as these were the easy target of protesters.

“It became routine for protesters in Rawalpindi and Islamabad to vent their anger on the bus stations,” he said.

Faraz Ahmed, a commuter, said due to the closure of metro bus service, people had to wait for public transport.

“The district administration failed to make any alternative arrangements for commuters,” he said.

He said it was the duty of Regional Transport Authority or the City District Government Rawalpindi to ensure the presence of public transport on roads.

Usually, more than 90,000 passengers use the Metro Bus Service from Rawalpindi to Islamabad on the weekends. However, the number of passengers increased on routine days.

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2025