The citizens faced difficulties in commute on Thursday after Peshawar Bus-Transit (BRT) services were suspended in the city following a fire incident a day prior.
Citizens reached various bus stops in the morning to avail the service, launched 33 days ago by Prime Minister Imran Khan, only to find “service suspended" boards hanging at the stations.
Commenting on the matter, a BRT spokesperson said that the service got suspended after four buses caught fire and added that the decision has been made to ensure the safety of passengers.
“A five-member team has arrived from China to investigate the faults in the vehicles,” the spokesperson said, adding that the buses will resume operations after clearance from the technical experts.
Following the incident, about 128 BRT buses have been parked at the Chamkani Depot.
Meanwhile, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Labour Minister Shaukat Yousufzai said that a meeting of Mass Transit Board is scheduled on Friday [tomorrow] to review all these issues.
BRT buses are insured and under warranty, he said while talking to Geo Pakistan, adding that the company has recommended the government to suspend the service for safety.
Another bus of the BRT project — plying on Hayatabad's feeder routes — caught fire on Wednesday, making it the fifth one in total to have broken down while the fourth to have erupted into flames.
According to rescue officials, passengers inside the bus were taken out of the vehicle without any harm coming to them.
Before this incident, another BRT bus caught fire near Gulbahar Station, local media had earlier reported. According to eyewitnesses, the bus caught fire just as soon as it arrived at the station.
There were passengers inside the bus when it caught fire, however, they managed to escape just in time. Rescue 1122 was called to the site and the fire was doused.
The Peshawar BRT, one of the flagship projects of the government, was launched on August 13. The project was completed at a cost of Rs69 billion in 36 months.