Although the current premier of Pakistan has been seen for long enchanting and misleading the general public about the downsides of constructing metro buses, soon his government itself discovered that the importance of road infrastructure and mass commuting systems can never be undermined.
The system is equally important and no less valuable than having good hospitals, schools or anything. It was a notion of utmost requirement by the provincial government of KPK that they understood how rotten and overburdened their transit system is. However, after years of constant struggle and billions of rupees burnt, the project is now completed and is operational.
Although various hurdles came at the time of construction, the incumbent provincial government was able to deliver this mega project in the timespan of around 5 years. The project is owned and being supervised by Peshawar Development Authority, and is constructed by the top-notch civil development firms of international fame.
In this article we have summarized this project under one URL so that you won’t have to look here and there searching for the little pieces of information. So without further ado, let’s begin our main topic of the day.
Overview of the Project
Since the current population of the city of Peshawar is 4,269,079, and being the provincial capital of KPK it hosts thousands of commuters everyday who come by for the sake of getting their problems solved in the public office. Additionally, the infrastructure of the city is also much developed that is unable to find in the other cities of the province. The educational institutes, hospitals, courts, and various public offices including the district administration, police, and works department attract a good number of diaspora to the city.
Keeping all the above mentioned facts under consideration, there was a dire need to establish a unanimous transit system that can hold this much of the population influx every day. The already present system of buses was so obsolete that the citizens were often seemed screaming and great hue and cry was felt by the government.
The total length of the track is almost 26 kilometers while it will have around 31 stations on the way to cater to the needs of the residents residing anywhere in the city on the either sides. The fleet of buses is enough to meet the everyday need of the commuters and they seem much happy after the commencement and formal operation of BRT.
The project was developed including the infrastructural development, maps and all by the KPK provincial government’s owned company, and that is TransPeshawar. This is a well-known and a reputed urban mobility company that has been in the service of the citizens of Pakistan and specifically Peshawar for a long time now. The project was completed with the financial aid and assistance by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), and they are also currently administering the overall financial aspects of the project.
This is to be mentioned here that if you have a look at the card, you fill find ZU Peshawar written on it, and the project is also widely known in the field as Zu , which in Pashto (The local language) means go.
Route update of BRT Peshawar
It is a fact that the government before diving into the project head straight paid a great attention in planning the project. The 26 km long route has 31 station in was that are all connected through an individual transit system that enhances to the functionality of the system. The terminal stations, from where the route begins and end at are located at Hayatabad, a well-known market and one of the major financial and residential hubs of the city, and Chamkani Chowk, which is equally important for the commuters as well as the visitors of the city.
The complete route of the BRT Peshawar is given as under,
- Chamkani Chowk
- Chughal Pura
- Dr Zareef Memorial School
- Sethi Town
- Sikandar Town
- Gulbahar Square
- Hashtnagri
- Qila Bala Hisar
- Hospital Road
- Khyber Bazaar
- Soekarno Square Secretariat
- Dabgari Gardens
- Railway Station
- State Bank of Pakistan
- Saddar Bazar
- Mall Road
- Khyber Road Airport
- Gora Qabristan
- Tehkal
- Tambuwaan
- Abdara Road
- University Town
- KTH University of Peshawar
- Islamia College
- Board Bazar
- Tajabad
- Hayatabad Model School
- Hayatabad Phase 3
- Tatara Park
- PDA Hayatabad
- Cancer Hospital
The number of buses that they have currently is 158, and the no. of passengers that each bus can carry per hour is 10,000 to 30,000.
Fare of Peshawar BRT
Unlike the metro buses that we have seen in almost every metropolis of Pakistan which have a stagnant fare for wherever on the route you join and leave, the BRT’s fare a little different from them. BRT charges you for the distance that you have travelled from the minimum of PKR 10 and ranges all the way to PKR 50.
Following is the complete fare breakdown that you will have to pay to commute.
| Distance Traveled in kms | Fare (PKR) |
| 0.1 to 5 | 10 |
| 5.1 to 10 | 15 |
| 10.1 to 15 | 20 |
| 15.1 to 20 | 25 |
| 20.1 to 25 | 30 |
| 25.1 to 30 | 35 |
| 30.1 to 35 | 40 |
| 35.1 to 40 | 45 |
| 40.1 or more | 50 |
You can use various modes of payment to continue using BRT services in Peshawar. You can buy a onetime ticket from the ticket booths available at each station of the route. Apart from that you can also get the card made if you are a constant commuter and want to use very often. The loyalty card can be obtained from the same bus terminal, and you can recharge them on spot. If you are well aware of digital money and want get into the physical money handling you can also download their app in your smartphone, the apps are available for both iOS and Android.
You can use their app to pay your bills and top-up your account balance seamlessly if you have connected it with your debit card, bank account or any other media.
Timings of BRT Operation
Although at first it was planned that BRT will revolve around the city all day long, but soon after the operation started the timings were reduced to the office hours as the commuters may reach to their destination in time.
The buses revolve around the track from 6 am every morning to 10 pm every night, and they also do stay operational on the weekends too. However, little construction chores, maintenance work, or minor touchups on the track may sometime jeopardize the regular activity, and the ignited mobs may sometimes try to vandalize the routine operations, so it is always the best and recommended practice to reach them out on their official numbers to know the exact situation.
