The technical committee of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Standard has ranked Peshawar’s BRT system as Gold Standard Service, which is the highest globally recognized standard.
A ceremony was held at the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Chief Minister’s House on Thursday in honor of TransPeshawar winning the international service award. It was attended by the provincial Minister for Higher Education, Kamran Bangash, Member of Provincial Assembly Syed Fakhar Jehan, committee members of the International BRT standard, representatives of the ADB, government officials, and others.
Minister Bangash called the accomplishment a matter of pride for the nation besides being an honor for the government and Peshawar that Pakistan has achieved the world’s top ranking in the BRT system. He added that Pakistan is the first country in the subcontinent, the third in Asia, and the seventh in the world to achieve the Gold Standard Service Ranking Award.
The minister mentioned that Peshawar’s BRT, which was inaugurated in August 2020 by Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan, was chosen for this award because of its passenger-oriented services, bus routes that are focused on passenger requirements, its implementation of clean technology for buses, improved safety, promotion of non-motorized transportation, and use of all obtainable and maximum resources to accommodate the general public.
He also praised the BRT service providers for their dedication to their work.
PM Imran took to Twitter to congratulate the Government of KP, saying: “Congratulations to KP govt. Peshawar BRT recognized as a Gold Standard BRT service by the International Technical Standard Committee of the BRT scoring a 97 out of 100 – meaning it is consistent in almost all respects with international best practices”.
According to TransPeshawar, the BRT’s daily ridership has surpassed 250,000, 20 percent of who are women. Also, 60 percent of low-income citizens use it every day.
The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of TransPeshawar, Fayyaz Khan, stated that the BRT has been used by more than 71.2 million passengers since its inception. He added that TransPeshawar will keep striving to maintain the gold standard by offering high-quality services to the public.
The BRT Standard Technical Committee constitutes BRT specialists who assess it according to international best practices. One of its members, Dr. Walter Hook, remarked that BRT Peshawar has been consistent in all aspects of the international best practices.
