Metro Bus service renamed as ‘Pakistan Metro Bus’

Islamabad: Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Sunday said that the Rawalpindi-Islamabad Bus Service, which had been renamed as ‘Pakistan Metro Bus Service’, carried around 124,494 passengers within three days of its launch.
Addressing a news conference here at the Punjab House after having a ride on the bus service to examine arrangements, the chief minister said during his interaction he found the passengers satisfied.
The passengers belonging to all the provinces including Azad Jammu and Kashmir told him that they were very happy on the introduction of the bus service, he added.Shahbaz said a Feeder Bus Service would be started within three months to take the people from their areas to the metro stations. New buses would be bought for the service and the passengers would have to pay for the service additionally.
The residents of twin cities were deprived of better transport facilities and the Metro Bus Service has fulfilled this requirement, he said adding that long queues of waiting people were seen at every station.
The passengers also told him that earlier they had to change three vans to reach their destinations but the Metro Bus Service had solved this problem, he added.Shahbaz Sharif said he had directed the officials to increase the number of ticket counters at the stations to facilitate the people.
He said there would be no compromise over the quality of service. Presently 68 buses were plying on the route and if needed more would be roped in, he added.He also directed the Metro Bus Authority to launch a drive to educate the people about the service. He said proper security arrangements were in place at all the stations. He said that the Pakistan Metro Bus Service could be compared with the best bus services in mega cities of different countries.
The chief minister praised M/s Habib Construction Company for their excellent work and said he would request the prime minister to appreciate them. He said that Pakistan’s

development was linked with that of the provinces. The federal government, he added, had also allocated funds in the budget for Karachi’s Green Project.
Replying to a question, he said that Rs150 billion would be spent in next three years on the development of agriculture sector in Punjab.Federal Minister for Information Broadcasting and National Heritage Senator Pervaiz Rashid and Chairman Metro Bus Project’s Monitoring and Implementation Committee Hanif Abbasi were also present on the occasion.