Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi has inaugurated a new electric bus depot and charging centre in Islamabad to promote eco-friendly public transport in the federal capital.
Addressing the inaugural ceremony, he said around 125,000 citizens of Islamabad are currently benefiting from the electric bus service on daily basis. He added that a target has been set to increase the number of passengers to 250,000 per day.
The Minister emphasized that special consideration has been given to routes for male and female students. He also announced the extension of the electric bus service to Rawat.
He said the electric bus service, alongside the metro system, is helping ease traffic congestion in the twin cities. He further informed that the Rawalpindi-Islamabad railway service is being restored.
The Minister said Heavy Industries Taxila Pakistan will soon begin local manufacturing of electric buses.
Following the inauguration, the Interior Minister also travelled in an electric bus along with officials concerned. He was given a detailed briefing regarding the depot facilities and the charging infrastructure.
It was informed that the depot has the capacity to install 64 chargers, of which 50 have already been installed, while the remaining 14 will be set up soon. Each charger is capable of charging two buses within two hours.
It was told that electric buses are currently operating on 21 routes across Islamabad and the system has also been integrated with Google to facilitate commuters.
