Prime Minister Imran Khan has congratulated the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government on the recognition of Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) as a Gold Standard BRT service by the International Technical Standard Committee.
In a tweet on Friday, the prime minister said that Peshawar BRT scored 97 out of 100, which means it is consistent in almost all respects with international best practices.
He said that Peshawar BRT has revolutionised the public transport system in the city and since the start of its operations in August 2020 more than 71 million people have travelled in it.
The prime minister said over 250,000 commuter’s use BRT on daily basis out of which twenty percent are women and sixty percent are from low-income groups.
Earlier, Planning Minister Asad Umar congratulated Defence Minister Pervez Khattak and Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Chief Minister Mahmood Khan.
The BRT was inaugurated by then chief minister of the province Khattak in 2020 and received the award on Thursday for providing passenger-oriented, environment-friendly facilities to the people of Peshawar.
A day earlier, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) hailed ZuPeshawar – the operator of the BRT system – on receiving the international award, saying that Peshawar has now become the first city in the subcontinent, third in Asia and 11th globally to receive the Gold Standard.
The statement issued by the ADB said Dr Walter Hook, a member of the technical committee that evaluates world-class BRTs on the basis of best practices internationally, presented the award to K-P Minister for Higher Education Kamran Bangash on Thursday.
The Gold Standard was awarded to the city for transforming transport through its clean technology buses, promoting non-motorized traffic, and transporting a staggering 250,000 passengers on daily basis, out of which 20% are women.
Earlier, the BRT had also received the certificate of International Sustainable Award by the International Transport Organisation while the UN Women has also honoured the BRT for providing the best and safe travelling facility to women. The BRT, he added, was providing the best possible commuting facilities to its passengers.
