5.8m Karachiites Travel Through Green Bus Ferries In Six Months.

KARACHI -- The people of Karachi, who have been yearning for a better transport service for nearly three decades, gave a 'positive' response to the Green Line bus service during its first six months of running as close to six million citizens have travelled through its dedicated corridor on 80 buses in the given period.

The public response raised the hopes that more such facilities could multiply the number of travellers and bring to an end the decades-old miseries of citizens of this beleaguered city.

The Green Line of the Bus Rapid Transit System is the first-ever public transport operation launched in the metropolis by the federal government after years.

According to the official data, from the formal launch on January 10 till July 7 evening, a total of 5,811,570 passengers travelled on Green Line without any break.

This shows on an average 968,595 people moved on 80 buses of the project every month as the officials say that the starting month of the project recorded 50,000 people travelling everyday which gradually came to 35,000 passengers daily.

'Since its launch, the service is on without any break and adding value to people's comfort with each passing day,' said Abdul Aziz, general manager operations of the Sindh Infrastructure Development Company Ltd (SIDCL) - a public limited company to carry on the business of infrastructure development which is the builder and operator of the project.

He also referred to a plan in the pipeline to add technology-based value to the service which would further help the commuters. It would be available soon within a month, he said.

'Through this tech-based value addition, an app would be available for the passengers to pay their fare online and top up their prepaid cards from anywhere,' he added.

Escalators, lifts 'out of order'

The federal government funded public transport project despite off and on complaints about maintenance of its related services has been seen as a 'blessing' for the people mainly in district Central, who believe that the much-awaited scheme has finally started yielding results.

However many commuters have complained that several escalators and lifts installed at the Green Line stations are out of order or not being run for various unknown reasons. 'When the Green Line staff is asked why the escalator is off, they simply reply that it is out of...