Muslim Town Flyover Inaugurated: News about BRTS but nothing about LRMTS

Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif inaugurated the Muslim Town flyover on Ferozepur Road on Sunday and announced a bonus of Rs2 million for the labourers who took part in construction work.

The flyover was opened to traffic on April 22, but the inauguration ceremony was postponed in view of the Bhoja Air crash in Islamabad.

Though two deadlines for the flyover’s completion – March 23 and April 18 – were missed, the chief minister said that the Rs2 billion project had been finished in a “record” 175 days. The Punjab government, he said, had created “a culture of completing large scale projects in record time and in a transparent manner”.

He said that some 427,000 vehicles a day would use the flyover. He regretted the inconvenience caused by the construction work, but added that the “temporary inconvenience has now become a permanent convenience”.

Sharif said that the project was a high quality construction of thesame level as the Kalma Chowk flyover. He said that a petrol station owned by a relative of his had been demolished in order to build the Kalma Chowk flyover.

He said that development projects could turn Pakistan’s current dark days into a bright future. He said that if elected to lead the federal government in the next general elections, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz would resolve the energy crisis within three years.

The chief minister said that setting up a comfortable, affordable and efficient public transport system for the poor and the middle class was “the mission of my life”. He said the government was building an international standard Bus Rapid Transport System.

He said that the poor sat at bus stops for hours and watched the rich go past in their cars and dreamt of similarly convenient travel facilities. After the BRTS was completed, he said, the rich would watch the poor travel in comfortable air conditioned buses.

He said that work on “this important public welfare project” was continuing around the clock and tenders would soon be offered for the next phase of the BRTS. He said a 4-km elevated bus track would be built from Qurtaba Chowk to the Civil Secretariat as part of the project. He said that building the BRTS was a tenth of the cost of building an underground metro system and would be finished this year.

The chief minister thanked the traffic police for their work in diverting traffic during the construction of the flyover. He also praised Inspector General of Punjab Police Habeebur Rehman as an honest officer who would bridge the gap between the police and the public. Earlier, Communication and Works Secretary Azam Suleman gave a talk about various features of the Muslim Town flyover project. Ministers, assembly members, and senior officers of the National Logistics Cell, the National Engineering Services of Pakistan and the city government also attended the inauguration.

Rapid transit: ‘Buses will not start running until October’

“The dedicated lanes for the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) will likely not be used until they have been extended up to Qurtaba Chowk,” said Metro Bus Service General Manager Uzair Shah on Friday. He said the earliest it will take until October.

Shah said a smart ticketing system would be introduced with the buses in the BRTS lane. A similar system might be installed in other city buses if the results of the pilot project are encouraging. On February 13, Shah had said that the lanes would start being used in May when they were built from Gajju Mata to Kalma Chowk. However, now they will not open till they have at least been built till Qurtaba Chowk.

Shah, speaking exclusively with The Express Tribune said starting the metro bus service as soon as the 10 kilometres of the BRTS lane (from Gajju Mata to Kalma Chowk) is completed would leave the travellers with a poor impression. He said if minutes after boarding the bus they are caught in regular traffic at Kalma Chowk, they would be exasperated. He also said the BRTS could not work without bus terminals.

Shah said that the number of articulated buses to be run had been increased from seven to 16. These buses, he said, were not cost efficient, however, they were more comfortable. He said the BRTS buses would only run in the BRTS corridor. He said around 40 buses would be used initially.

Shah said a smart card system would be introduced in collaboration with the Punjab Information and Technology Board. He said two fare tariffs were being considered. One option was a flat fare of Rs20 to Rs30 for travel to any destination on the BRTS route. The second option was Oyester Cards. Once a traveller paid for three rides on the card, the rest of his travel on the BRTS for that day would be free. He said the cards would be swiped at the entrance of the BRTS bus terminal and then a second time on the bus.

He said if the smart card system was a success, it might be extended to other buses in the city. He said that a centralised payment mechanism would also be established at IT Tower as all payments would be collected by the government electronically and later distributed among transporters. He said all transporters would be taken into confidence regarding the mechanism.

Most transporters however rejected the idea. First Bus Chief Operating Officer Muhammad Dastgir Baloch asked why they should allow the government to collect the revenue.

He said the idea was not practical as the government would have to increase subsidies to the transporters. He said that even with a subsidy they would likely not accept the proposal.

Rapid transit: TEPA Proposes Extension in Elevated Route

LAHORE: Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) officials have reworked a proposal to build an elevated bus-only track for the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS), suggesting that it run all the way from Qurtaba Chowk to Data Darbar.

TEPA had initially proposed that a 2.5-kilometre elevated track be built from Qurtaba Chowk to MAO College, for two reasons: first, the area is congested and building a bus-only track for the BRTS down the middle of the road, with regular crossings built for pedestrians, would choke other traffic; and second, it would obviate the need for expensive land acquisitions. The Planning and Development Department approved the proposal earlier this week.

Now TEPA officials are suggesting that the track be extended another 1.3 kilometres to Data Darbar, for the same reasons: to ensure the flow of traffic of other vehicles is maintained, and to avoid the need to buy land.

“A proposal has been made to the Planning and Developing Department to extend the elevated bus lane,” said Mazhar Hussain, the project director for the BRTS and TEPA’s director for construction. Asked if he expected the proposal to be accepted, he said he could not say either way.

He said that once it was decided, work on the bridge and on another section of the BRTS from Kalma Chowk to Qurtaba Chowk would begin simultaneously in mid-May.

TEPA Assistant Director Ansar Butt said that if the new proposal were rejected, most of Gamay Shah Road would be taken up by the BRTS lane. He said that other traffic going to or leaving Data Darbar would have to use a longer route. He said that if the elevated lane were built all the way to Data Darbar, the traffic flow on the Lower Mall and Gamay Shah Road would not be disturbed.

Lahore Transport Company General Manager Uzair Shah said that he hoped the proposal would be accepted. He said that if the bridge were to end at MAO College, it would mean needing to build crossings for bus passengers every few hundred metres which would choke the traffic flow on the road. “In engineering bridges are considered the last resort. In this case there is no other solution,” he said.

He said that in case their proposal was turned down, they would have to take four metres from Nasser Bagh and cut down some very old trees besides taking land from the DCO’s office. “There would no longer be parking space outside the Secretariat either,” he said.

Work on next phase of bus track from next month

Workers will complete the first phase of the Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) on Ferozepur Road in May and start work on the next stage soon after, including a 2.5-kilometre bus-only bridge over Qurtaba Chowk.

Officials of the Traffic Engineering and Planning Agency (TEPA) toldThe Express Tribune that the first phase of the project, for the laying of a special bus track from Kahna to Kalma Chowk (around 10km), would be finished next month.

Once that is complete, workers will start preparing the BRTS track from Kalma Chowk to Qurtaba Chowk, a distance of around 4.2 kilometres, they said. They will simultaneously start building a 2.5-km flyover from Qurtaba Chowk to MAO College, said the TEPA officials. The works would be completed in October, they said.

The TEPA officials said that the PC-1 (project digest) for the elevated track had been submitted to the Planning and Development Department and they expected approval to be granted soon. They said that building an elevated track would obviate the need to buy costly land for the project.

Mazhar Hussain, the BRT project director and director for engineering construction at TEPA, said that work on both sections would begin simultaneously to save time. He said that the laying of track between Kalma Chowk and Qurtaba Chowk would take about three months, while building the elevated track would take around six months.

“At the present pace of work, we should be able to complete the first phase by mid-May,” he said. “The next phase will begin soon after.”

Hussain said that it was necessary to build an elevated track for the BRTS between Qurtaba Chowk and MAO College because the stretch was too congested and there was not enough space in this section for a dedicated bus-only lane down the middle of Ferozepur Road. “The BRTS flyover strip will also reduce the mess on the adjoining roads,” he said.

TEPA Assistant Director Ansar Butt said that 10 bus stops had been built along the stretch of BRTS track between Kahna and Kalma Chowk. Four more bus stops each are to be built along the second and third sections of the BRTS. The four bus stops on the elevated track would be at Qurtaba Chowk, Mozang Adda, Janazgah and at the Hailey College of Banking and Finance at the Punjab University’s Old Campus. He said that a total of 31 bus stops were to be installed for the whole project. He said the bus stops would be connected to the track via overhead bridges.

TEPA sources said that workers had also laid ducts along the BRTS track between Kahna and Kalma Chowk for the Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) project, which envisages the installation of high-tech cameras and sensors along the route for traffic management and monitoring. The ITS and BRTS projects are meant to be synergistic, since the cameras and sensors are supposed to ensure that the buses always get a green light. However, no funds have yet been released for the ITS.

The sources said that the ducts had been laid for wiring for the ITS system, so that workers would not have to dig up the track again