Green Line BRT: Chinese buses start serving Karachi people

Paan and Gutka banned during rides

Karachi: Twenty-five Chinese buses has hit the road as part of the Green Line Bus Rapid Transit Service (BRT) to serve the masses.

A total of 80 China-made buses have been inducted for service but the full-fledged operations will begin only from January 10.

“Twenty-five buses have started operation. The fare of one trip will range between (Pakistani) Rs 15 and Rs 55,” a government spokesperson announced.

The 18-meter-long buses have 40 seats and can accommodate 150 people at a time. The bus has an adjustable ramp for wheelchair users.

The imported vehicles are of Euro 3 standards which means that the carbon monoxide emissions from the buses are reduced. The hybrid vehicles will be run on batteries and diesel.

The Karachi administration has banned the chewing of Paan (a mixture of chopped areca nut) and Gutka (betel quid) during the tides.

Initially, the Green Line bus service will be operational for four hours from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon (local time).

The first bus went off carrying passengers from Sarjani Town to Abdullah Chowk and reached at 8:22 pm at Haideri Bus Station.

Sindh Governor Imran Ismail unveiled some ‘Dos and Don’t’s’ for traveling on the newly-launched Green Line Bus.

The Governor announced that the Paan and Gutka chewers were not allowed to ride the buses as they would make the vehicles ‘dirty.’

Ismail further said that passengers must brush their teeth before travelling on the newly inaugurated bus service.

Speaking to journalists along with the Sindh Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah after the change of guards ceremony at the founder of Pakistan Quaid-e-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah’s mausoleum in Karachi on his birthday, he stressed that the service should be used for the benefit of the whole city. “We should keep the buses clean. No Paan or Gutka chewing will be allowed,” he remarked.

Meanwhile, the Federal Minister for planning Asad Umar in a tweet marking the Green Line Service operation said: “In Quaid-e-Azam’s city, Karachi Green Line commercial operation started on Quaid-e-Azam’s birthday. The first bus departed from Abdullah Chowk station with passengers.”

He added: “From today, the eleven stations will have a 4-hour service from 8 to 12 o’clock in the morning. Inshallah (God wiling), as announced earlier, from January 10, all the stations will start working from morning to evening.”