BRT card price set at Rs250

Residents of Peshawar will now have to shell out Rs250 to purchase a ‘Zu’ card if they want to ride on the new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project after the company that operates set a price on the cards.

Umair Khan, a spokesperson for the government-owned TransPeshawar Company, which was set up to operate the project, confirmed the news.

He added that previously the company had introduced a quota to provide free Zu cards to passengers to attract them to the service. Noting that Rs100 which were charged from passengers to get the card used to be loaded onto the card as balance which they could redeem against trips.

Now, the price of the card has been set at Rs250, which will also include Rs100 as balance which can be availed for taking trips on the service.

“The BRT is the cheapest [mode of transportation in the city] and citizens are being given relief [through the service],” he stated.

He added that under the quota, TransPeshawar has so far distributed over 400,000 free Zu cards amongst residents of the provincial capital since August. He further clarified that they have not changed the price of the card, noting that they were not charging it previously.

“We are working hard to facilitate citizens with economical, reliable, safe and efficient public transport,” he added.

Locals said that the provincial government had claimed that the BRT service, which launched in August, would facilitate citizens, has now become expensive for them.

The BRT, a third-generation project, runs for 27 kilometres along the main corridor from Chamkani to Karakhano crossing. It also has five off-corridor routes connecting different parts of the city to the main corridor.

The bus service, however, has already run into serious trouble after a series of mishaps forced it to be suspended for nearly six weeks pending a detailed investigation and rectification of issues.

The bus service finally resumed operations on October 24.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2020.