RAWALPINDI: As 80 electric buses for the garrison city’s 10 new routes are on the way from Lahore, the Punjab Mass transit Authority and Regional Transport Authority are looking for a site in Raja Bazaar for the bus stop.

Though Siham Peshawar Road and General Bus Stand Saddar have been selected for the bus depot, the authorities concerned are in a quandary as to how the buses will pass through the congested bazaar.

A senior official of the Punjab Transport Department told Dawn that the department had suggested to the Rawalpindi commissioner to allocate former Rose Cinema adjacent to Rawalpindi Teaching Hospital as the electric bus stop but the Commissioner’s Office is yet to respond to the proposal.

Rawalpindi Metropolitan Corporation had razed the Rose Cinema and construction of a commercial-cum-parking plaza was being considered in its place.

The Rawalpindi Teaching Hospital also requested the provincial government to allocate the space for the extension of the hospital. However, the government failed to decide the fate of the land measuring two kanals for the electric buses.

The senior official of the transport department said the district administration had been requested to remove the encroachments on the route of the electric buses so it could construct bus stations. He said the bus stations had not yet been constructed and would be built soon after inauguration of buses in the city.

He said funds would be provided to Punjab Mass transit Authority for the purpose.

However, he said the Regional Transport Authority had been asked to identify spaces for the new bus stations. He said in the first phase, the existing bus stations would be used as bus stops.

When contacted, Regional Transport Authority Secretary Asad Shirazi said the RTA was assisting Punjab Mass Transit Authority for the launching of electric buses in the garrison city.

He said routes had been allocated in consultation with Nespak and before allocating the routes, Nespak conducted the survey of the city and pointed out 10 routes for the electric buses.

A senior official of the district administration said they were working on allocating suitable spaces for bus stops and in this regard, assistant commissioners had been asked to cooperate with Punjab transport department. He said there were no encroachments on the main roads of the 10 routes of electric buses and we had allocated some sites while others will be allocating before the launching of the buses.

Route-1 is from Railways Station to Lahore High Court Rawalpindi Bench, Route-2 is from Koral Chowk to Fawara Chowk, Route-3 is from Umar Baig Chowk to Mandi Mor, Route-4 is from Munawar Colony to Saddar, Route-5 is from Marrir Chowk to Motorway Mor, Route-6 from Faizabad to Tramri Chowk, Route-7 is from I.J.P. Metro Station to Kuri Road. Route-8 from Saddar to Lalarukh Colony, Route-9 from Umair Baig Road to Qadeemi Imambargah Mohallah and Route-10 is from Saddar to Qabaristan.

Published in Dawn, October 12th, 2025