Inter-city Buses: Operators asked to Shift Terminals to New Locations

The city district government has proposed a plan asking intercity bus operators have been asked to shift their terminals to new locations in 18 months, The Express Tribune has learnt.

Bus companies, it seems, will require a lot of convincing before they agree to do so.

The government had hoped to organise an auction for licences for new terminals last Thursday but it had to be rescheduled.

Regional Transport Authority Secretary Mian Mohsin Rashid said he did not know why the auction had been postponed.

However, he is hopeful that early resistance will give way ultimately to an agreement. Rashid said that the RTA proposal allows the  companies to establish their terminals in areas of their preference.

The city government has already asked operators using one of the city’s main bus stands at Lorry Adda to move to Thokar Niaz Beg. A 109-kanal terminal has been completed at Thokar Niaz Beg but the transporters have refused to relocate.

City government officials, privy to developments, told The Express Tribune that the government had offered Daewoo the terminal at Thokar Niaz Beg to use till the company constructs a new terminal.

District Coordinating Officer Noorul Amin Mengal confirmed that Daewoo had been offered the Thokar terminal. Daewoo’s general manager said the company was considering the government offer but hadn’t made a decision yet.

Under the new plan, the government has proposed 88 bus terminals in the city. These terminals would be located in three zones along 12 interchanges on the Lahore Ring Road.

The Green Zone will include areas in the heart of the city – except for The Mall and the Walled City, the Blue Zone is situated on the inner side of the Ring Road interchanges and extend two kilometres towards city centre and the Yellow Zone, which is on the outer side of the Ring Road till the revenue limits of the city.

Only four bus terminals, of at least 50 kanals each, will be allowed to be established in the Green Zone. In the Blue Zone, two bus terminals of at least 10 kanals each will be allowed at each interchange. Five terminals, of six kanals each, would be allowed alongside every Ring Road interchange in the Yellow Zone.

The interested companies will submit applications, expressing their interest in setting up terminals.

The government will then hold an auction for the licences. Once a company wins a licence, it would be given 10 months to locate and purchase or lease the land where it wishes to construct the new terminal.

After building plans and NOCs are obtained, the companies will be given adequate time, which varies depending on the zone, to complete construction and shift operations.

Companies setting up new terminals in the Green Zone would be given 10 months, companies that wish to set up a terminal in the Blue Zone eight months and those in the Yellow Zone six months.

Rashid said that around 20 companies, including Daewoo, had expressed interest in the auction, the date for which is yet to be decided.

Daewoo General Manager (Administration) Khurram Mirza said that the company was willing to give the new proposal a shot “despite the difficulties it will pose to the company’s operations”.

He confirmed that the company would be taking part in the auction and that it has applied for a licence each in the Blue Zone and the Green Zone.

Aslam Khan Niazi, the All Pakistan Transport Owner Federation chairman, opposed the policy. He said companies like Abdullah Travellers, Naizi and Skyways owned land on which they have their terminals and did not want to participate in a licence auction.

Trial run: Metro buses to start training run soon

The training run of the Metro Bus Service (MBS) drivers on the Gajju Matta to Kalma Chowk section of the MBS route is likely to start soon.

Six driver trainers from the Turkish company Platform have arrived in Pakistan and have been scheduled to start trainING MBS drivers within 10 days.

A Metro Bus Service Authority (MBSA) official Uzair Shah said Traffic Engineering and Planning Authority (TEPA) will provide a u-turn on Kalma Chowk within 10-days to start training the MBS drivers. He said the training would be conducted by the firms, Platform and Volvo. The drivers would be taught how to drive the buses, how to dock at a platform and how to maintain speed and distance, Shah added.

“Six driver trainers have arrived in Pakistan to train newly-recruited drivers on the MBS route,” a senior Turkish official in Platform said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

He said some drivers for MBS had been hired while others were in the process for hiring.

The official said he expected the training to start in around ten days. He added that the plan was to run five to six buses during the training phase.

“The forty-five buses that reached Karachi will be transported to Lahore in the next 10 days,” he said.

Kalma Chowk project director Khalid Alvi said that they had been given a deadline by the MBS project director to clear the MBS route till December 20. He said they would be able to clear it, if not by December 20, then in around 24 hours or so after the deadline ends. He said the MBS buses would turn before the Kalma Chowk underpass area.

However, another MBSA official speaking on anonymity said neither of the under-construction Model Town Morr nor Kalma Chowk will be ready for any such training to start in the next 10-days. He said the training programme would hopefully start within four weeks.

He said the government was giving too short a deadline to begin the training-run for the buses. “It would be almost impossible to meet the December 20 deadline,” he said.

A TEPA official speaking on condition of anonymity said Kalma Chowk was the only bottleneck preventing buses travelling from Gajju Matta. He said all 10 bus stations were almost complete and the escalators were almost built too.

The official said the Kalma Chowk construction would take another 20 days.

No asphalt had been laid on the intersections as yet, he added.

Kalma Chowk closed for traffic

Dec 18: The quarters concerned of the Punjab government closed Kalma Chowk for traffic on Tuesday night to start construction of two underpasses and Metro Bus pathway.

As around 1.5 million vehicles use this intersection daily, motorists who are already in trouble these days because of ongoing construction of the Metro Bus System project will have to suffer for the next 20-days (Dec 19 to Jan 9) because of construction work at this intersection.

Though the City Traffic Police and TEPA have issued a traffic diversion plan, the decision will result in traffic congestion on Canal Road, Gulberg’s Main Boulevard, Qaddafi Stadium Road, Zahoor Elahi Road, The Mall and Jail Road.

“No traffic will enter this major intersection from Dec 19 to Jan 9 because of construction of the underpasses and a small stretch of the dedicated corridor for the Metro Bus,” MPA Dr Saeed Elahi of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz said at a press conference at the Kalma Chowk construction site on Tuesday afternoon.

Flanked by Lahore Commissioner Jawad Rafique Malik, Chief Traffic Officer Sohail Chaudhry and Project Directors Khalid Alvi
and Sabir Khan Sidozai, Elahi said the intersection was closed to complete the seven-lane dual underpass project till Jan 31.

Elahi said the project would cost the government Rs1.75 billion. He dispelled the impression that the Metro Bus project would cost the government Rs70 to 80 billion and said that actual cost of the project was Rs29.80 billion. He said the Metro Bus track from Gajjumata to Kalma Chowk was likely to be opened on Dec 25.

Commissioner Malik said that Rs558 million had been paid to people whose land was acquired for the road project. “We are going to set up a one-window cell at Town Hall to dispose of remaining cases of compensation,” he said.

Urban development: LDA approves Rs3b project for signal-free Qurtaba Chowk

The Lahore Development Authority (LDA) has approved the construction of a signal-free junction at Qurtaba Chowk, Mozang, at a cost of Rs3 billion in view of the increasing number of traffic jams there, according to a press release issued after a meeting of the LDA governing body here on Thursday.

The project will start once construction of the Metro Bus Service is complete, said the LDA statement.

The LDA also approved of the dualisation or expansion of the road along Cantonment Drain from the LOS stop on Ferozepur Road to Multan Road, known locally as Nalay Wali Sarak, and the construction of missing links, at a cost of Rs524 million.

A project for the installation of LED lights on 15 major roads at a cost of Rs339 million was also approved.

The LDA officials concerned were not available to give the details for these projects.