LAHORE: After a long break of 140 days, the metro bus operation resumed on Wednesday in the light of recommendations of the government related to opening of businesses in various sectors.

The operation of Speedo intra-city bus also resumed in Lahore under various key precautionary measures.

“Finally we have resumed the metro bus operation in Lahore, Multan and Rawalpindi. And the Speedo intra-city bus operation also resumed in Lahore from Wednesday after the government allowed us to do so,” a senior official of the Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMTA) told Dawn.

“The key SOPs under which we have resumed this operation included queuing with person to person standing distance of at least three feet in front of ticketing counters at all bus stations, standing distance of three feet among passengers while boarding, handwashing/sanitising at stations before boarding, wearing masks and allowing less number of passengers in the bus,” the official said.

He said the metro bus operation was halted on March 23 after the government imposed lockdown across the country due to Covid-19.

To a question, he said maintaining a three feet distance in buses was not practically possible. “But we are trying to allow entry of a minimum number of passengers. Moreover, the passengers wearing no masks will not be allowed to enter [even] bus stations,” he added.

LESCO: The Lahore Electric Supply Company (Lesco) on Wednesday held an online open court to solve the problems faced by the consumers.

According to a spokesman, CEO Mujahid Pervaiz Chatha while holding the court online through a Facebook page received 120 complaints. The plaints were related to new recruitments, bills’ installments, high and low voltage, shifting of hanging wires, upgrade of transformers, bills correction etc.

PR: Pakistan Railways on Wednesday decided to change route of various trains.

According to a press release, the routes of Green Line, Allama Iqbal Express, Sir Syed Express and Karakoram Express trains have been changed for smooth operations.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2020