The Sindh government’s electric bus service, launched a year ago with fanfare in front of the media, faces the threat of a complete shutdown as buses plying on 2 of its 3 routes were suddenly suspended. As a result, thousands of passengers were facing problems.
According to sources, the one route on which this bus is still plying also has less number of high-tech public transport buses provided.
Thousands of people traveling by these electric buses started the week with a shock that the buses they were waiting for are no longer available.
According to the sources, buses on 2 routes EV-1 and EV-3 have been suspended indefinitely, however, citing ‘some critical issues’ without specifying the reason.
The EV-1 electric bus starts from Tank Chowk near Jinnah Avenue and runs through Airport area, Shahrah Faisal, FTC, Korangi and Khayaban Ittihad to the clock tower at Sea View.
EV-3 starts from Miller Cantt Check Post 5 and goes to MA Jinnah Road via Safora Chowrangi, Mosmayat, Kamran Chowrangi, Perfume Chowk, Millennium Mall, Dalmia, Aga Khan Hospital, Liaquat National Hospital.
EV-2 which starts from Bahria Town Karachi and passes M-9 Plaza through Malir Halt, Bakai University, Jinnah Avenue, Malir Cantt, Tank Chowk and ends at Model Colony is doing ‘fine’. has been
The service has been plagued by problems for a few weeks, with half of the 40 buses starting to gather dust as one in two power stations failed to charge these high-tech public transport carriers due to lack of capacity.
2 power stations for a total of 40 buses were initially installed at Bahria Town and Malir Cantt. The power station installed at Bahria Town is functioning properly and 20 buses plying their routes from here are operational.
A source familiar with the recent history of operations of the electric bus service said that the power station installed at Miller Cantt, however, was facing problems with power supply and voltage fluctuations.
He added that it hardly ever charged the required number of buses in a day, which is why buses on the other two routes have been standing at the depot for the past several weeks.
Sources said that for this reason the administration had decided to bring red diesel buses of the Sindh People’s Bus Service on these routes to fill the gap, but suddenly these buses were also removed from the roads and both of them Route operations were suspended.
Launched in January this year, the bus has been plagued by problems since the start of its operations, mainly due to battery charging issues, and in April, electric buses were suspended on both routes due to battery charger malfunctions. , which was suspended for 2 months, and resumed in July after the import of a new charging system.
Sources further said that after the launch, the facility has been facing battery charging issues since the beginning, the power station for these buses in Malir does not receive the required supply of electricity to charge these buses. required’, he said that ‘2 types of chargers are 160 KV and 180 KV, the power station cannot charge the required number of buses due to low supply or power supply’.
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2024-09-29 23:25:08
