- New transport policy to be announced by 15th
By Rana Kashif
LAHORE: The Punjab Transport Department is likely to announce a new transport policy for the city by November 15 under which minibuses and vans will be replaced by buses running on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), District Regional Transport Authority (DRTA) secretary Chaudhry Iqbal told Daily Times on Wednesday.
He said a private company had manufactured minibuses running on CNG. He said the minibuses were about 28 feet long with seating capacity of 30 passengers. He said the minibuses also had standing capacity of up to 25 people. He said the minibuses were being tested under the department’s supervision. He said the minibuses were priced between Rs 1.6 million and Rs 1.8 million. He added that the government had planned a 20 percent subsidy on the minibuses.
Iqbal said the new minibuses would be plied only on 42 routes in the city, which were reserved for minibuses and vans and were being monitored by the DRTA. He said the buses plying on different routes would have different colour bands. He said the buses would charge the same fares the present minibuses and vans were charging.
Asked why no bus running on CNG was being plied in the city though the government had a policy regarding their early launching, Iqbal said a company had manufactured a bus running on CNG, but it was very expensive (around Rs 4 million). He said the Punjab Transport Authority (PTA) had persuaded the company to bring the price down to Rs 3.3 million. He said the buses were expected to start operating on The Mall by December. He said the government planned a 20 percent subsidy on the buses too.
The DRTA secretary said the minibus running on CNG would be economical for transporters, especially because the government’s subsidy would bring its price below that of vans running on petrol.
Currently, about 500 minibuses and 3,000 vans are plying in the city. They have separate routes from those of the buses. The vans and minibuses have cap ages of around eight to 10 years. But most vans and minibuses plying on city roads have crossed this age and are still being used commercially. Many of them are in quite a dilapidated condition with damaged floors and broken doors and windows.