PM to perform groundbreaking of Green Line Bus in Karachi
The project starts from Surjani Town and ends at Municipal Park, M.A Jinnah Road in Karachi.
KARACHI (Web Desk) - Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will perform the groundbreaking ceremony of Green Line Bus Rapid Transit System in Karachi today (Friday), Dunya News reported.
The bus service is the first ever rapid transit system that has been initiated by the federal government.
The project worth Rs16 billion is a significant milestone in upgrading and decongesting the overburdened transport infrastructure of Karachi.
PM Nawaz arrives in Karachi
Proposed route for Green Line starts from Municipal Park, where a rotary U-turn lane is proposed for buses. The plane alignment extends along M.A Jinnah Road towards northest up to Gurumandir, and after Gurumandir the alignment runs northward along Business Recorder Road, Nawab Siddique Ali Khan Road, Shahrah-e-Shershah Suri and Shahrah-e-Usman passing by some of the major landmarks such as Numaish, Board Office and Nagan Chowrangi.
This project will construct a busway (dedicated for BRT vehicles) in the median of the roads along the corridor with stations in the center of the median in both at grade and elevated sections which all provide high speed (25 Km/h) and high capacity (29,400 passengers per hour per direction) service.
The design capacity of the proposed BRT system with passing lanes provision will increase based on the number of direct / express services run between stations in the future, as required.
A fully autonomous company, Karachi Infrastructure Development Company Limited (KIDCL) has been incorporated under a Board of Directors to take all decisions independently for planning and implementation of the Project.
The project will benefit nearly 300,000 passengers per day.
The entire funding for the project has been provided by the Federal Government. It will be completed in about one year time.
Karachi city is passing through an uncontrolled phase of rapid urbanization and motorization. The mitigation of transportation externalities requires a shift towards sustainable transportation system.
The city‘s present public transport system constitutes a small percentage of total vehicle fleet (4.5%) and serves about 42% of passenger demand yet not dedicated lanes or any other feasible traffic management solution has been provided as compared to private vehicles, which are roughly 36% of the total vehicular traffic but carry only 21% of passengers.
The Para-transit mode constitutes 10% of the vehicle fleet and carries 8% of passengers while contract carriages constitute 2% of the vehicle fleet but carry 10% of total passengers (JICA Person Trip Study, 2005).
The main objectives of Green Line project is to provide reliable, safe, affordable, high quality bus service and improve the quality of life of commuters in Karachi. It will provide infrastructure that allows buses to ply in an efficient manner with exclusive right-of-way for a significant portion of their route length.
WATCH VIDEO BELOW:
