Like many emerging Asian and Pakistani cities, in Peshawar, transportation has become an important issue. With an increasing economy and a steady population growth, efficient mobility in the city has become problematic. Compared to other Asian cities in the region,
Peshawar is still behind in terms of good quality mass transit provision for its residents. In 2013, the Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa requested technical support from the Cities Development Initiative for Asia to improve Peshawar’s chaotic, mismanaged, and dilapidated urban transportation network. The project was funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB) and ITDP worked as a consultant and providing technical expertise and assistance on the feasibility of Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit Projects and to develop the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) preliminary design under the Project Preparatory Technical Assistance (PPTA) on Peshawar BRT, a project which tries to solve the urban mass transportation issues in Peshawar.
Khattak breaks ground for Peshawar BRT
Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Region Chief Minister, Pervez Khattak, broke ground on the long-awaited, multi-billion-rupee Bus Rapid Transit System project to provide comfortable transportation to the residents of Peshawar on Thursday, 19th of October 2017. “Almost 0.4-0.5 million passengers would use the BRT on a daily basis and no subsidy would be given for the project,” Khattak claimed. Khattak also said that a total of 80 buses will operate under the project on the main route while the rest of the fleet of more than 300 buses will be deployed on eight feeder routes including Kohat Road, Ring Road, Charsadda Road, and Hayatabad. The 26-kilometers BRT project will start form Chamkani and will end at Shaukat Khanum Cancer Hospital in Hayatabad, with a total of 31 stations along the route.