Boarding the Electric Bus

Travelling in a dieselhybrid electric bus onKarachi’s Red Line is acalm and comfortableexperience. Unlike older diesel-runbuses, passengers alightinstead of making super-humanefforts to hoist themselves onboard. In fact, boarding oneof the older buses was quitea feat, as passengers had torun in the middle of the road tocatch one, and stepping downrequired taking one’s life in one’shands to try to avoid being hit byoncoming traffic.

In fact, the introduction ofChinese electric and hybridbuses is signalling a sort oftravelling revolution by offeringpassengers a safer and morecomfortable ride. The onlydrawback with the new EVand hybrid vehicles is theirlimited seat capacity, which isinsufficient during peak hours.For context, the old buseshad 35 (albeit uncomfortable)seats, compared to the 20 to30 seats available in hybrid andEV vehicles. In this respect, itis estimated that Karachi alonerequires at least 8,000 to 10,000of these buses.

The new buses, however,are not without problems. Theinternal panels that house theair conditioning vents and LEDlights are starting to rattle,and although it is difficult tosay whether the reason is thequality of the buses or thestate of the roads, this sort ofthing is hard to justify whendealing with costly importedbuses. Furthermore, sinceFebruary 2025, when theSindh government raised thefares to Rs 80 and Rs 120,the environment sometimesbecomes tense due to scufflesbetween ticket collectors andthe passengers, some of themignoring the fare hike untilthey are finally forced to exitby the conductor.

Nevertheless, despite theseissues, both the Punjab andSindh governments seemdetermined to revolutionisePakistan’s public transportsystem by importing Chinesebuses and then moving towardslocal assembly. In this respect,it is hoped that these initiativeswill prove to be more successfulthan previous attempts (casein point, the Urban TransportSystem Metro buses) that endedin failure due to the lack oflong-term policies, inadequateexpertise in developingan urban transportationinfrastructure, failure toincentivise fleet operators andinconsistent fare structures.

In Sindh, 240 diesel hybridbuses (Red Peoples Buses),30 green hybrid buses, 50 EVbuses and 20 pink buses arenow on the road. Regarding whythe government is not inductinglocally assembled buses insteadof importing costly ones, aSindh government official saysthat the local assemblers do nothave any EV or hybrid vehiclesin the assembly line.

During his visit to Chinain February this year, SindhTransport Minister SharjeelInam Memon invited Chinesemanufacturers to set up EVbus plants in Karachi, assuringthem of a 10-year tax-freeenvironment to enable themto also export EV buses fromPakistan, although so farthere has been no Chineseinvestment in bus assembly.

On this score, the officialadded, “The Sindh governmentwants the entire transportsystem to shift from diesel andgas vehicles into pure EVs inorder to save fuel and create acleaner environment.” Regardingresistance by passengers tothe increased fares and thefact that this may discouragepeople from travelling on thesebuses, he says, “We have notnoticed any such thing. Peopleare happy, and the feedbackis good regarding the servicesof the Red Buses despite theincrease in fares.” He alsopointed out that the six-monthsubsidised fares offered on theRed Line have been extendedfor two years, and that 30 to 40more hybrid buses, 34 electricbuses, followed by a first batchof 10 double-decker buses,will be arriving from China inJune. “Our strategy includesfleet expansion, infrastructuredevelopment, regulationmanagement and domesticproduction. The goal is toprovide a holistic model for agreen transportation revolution.This multi-pronged modelrepresents Sindh’s visionto pioneer Pakistan’s greenurban transport andenvironmental conservation.”

In Punjab, speaking aboutthe current status and a futureroadmap, Secretary Transportand Mass Transit Department,Imran Sikandar Baloch,Government of Punjab, sayshis government introduced 27EV buses in February in Lahoreunder a World Bank programme.“We are planning to launch 500more EV buses from Augustonwards after signing a dealwith the World Bank on thePunjab Clean Air Programmeto cover Lahore, Faisalabad,Multan and Bahawalpur.”

Of the 500 EV buses, the planis to import 400 and assemble100 in Lahore in collaborationwith a Chinese company. “Theassembly of 100 vehicles willhelp achieve our localisationtarget and create new jobs inthe auto industry,” Baloch adds.Initially, the plan was tointroduce diesel hybrid vehicles,but Maryam Nawaz, ChiefMinister of Punjab, directed thatthe focus should be on pureEV buses in order to controlLahore’s smog issue. By 2026,Punjab will have 1,500 EVbuses on its roads,“says Baloch.

However, importing buses ata time when the country needsto curb the outflow of dollarsin order to keep the currentaccount deficit in control is asource of concern among somestakeholders. As one analyst putit, “We need to reconsider theapproach of importing EV busescosting millions of Americandollars.” In his view, the importby individual provinces ofEV buses in larger volumesseparately has not producedtangible results. In his opinion,the provinces should combineand negotiate better termswith local manufacturers toencourage local assembly andposition Pakistan as a hub forexporting right-hand drive EVsto other countries.

Aamir Shafaat Khan is areporter at Dawn.