Public transport: New bus route to Sheikhupura launched

Albayrak to run 25 buses on new route from railway station.

LAHORE:

A new route, number B-21, from the City Railway Station Lahore to Sheikhupura was inaugurated here on Saturday.

Turkish company Albayrak will run 25 modern, air-conditioned buses on the new route, Lahore Transport Company (LTC) Chairman Khawaja Ahmad Hassaan said at the inauguration ceremony. A modern bus terminal would also be constructed at the railway station, he said.

Hassaan said that the LTC had started 32 routes connecting Lahore to Sheikhupura, Raiwind, Maraka, Muridkey, Kamokey and other areas. The company was also providing free transport to senior citizens and special persons. He thanked private transport companies for assisting with the programme.

He said that the LTC had also resolved the problem of student groups clashing with transporters and disrupting bus services by starting the green card scheme, whereby student transport was heavily subsidised.

He said that the under-construction Metro Bus Service would be a milestone in the history of public transport in the city. He said that 45 buses would run from Gaju Matta to Shahdara on the dedicated bus lane on Ferozepur Road. He said that the total construction time of the MBS would be less than a year, which was “a world record”.

Hassaan credited Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif with the foreign investment in the city’s public transport. He said that Turkish investment in Pakistan was indicative of the mutual trust and brotherhood between the two countries.

Albayrak CEO Binyameen Karaca said that the new B-21 route was the fifth started by the company in five months. He said that the MBS buses would be 18 metres long.

LTC CEO Khawaja Haider Latif said that the company was playing a vital role in planning, regulating and facilitating urban transport in the city.

He later travelled on the first bus on the B-21 route to inaugurate the service.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 16^th, 2012.