Muhammad Luqman

In a major stride toward mitigating air pollution in Pakistan’s eastern city of Lahore, the Punjab government has launched a much-awaited pilot electric bus service project.

Initially, a fleet of 27 buses has started plying the roads from Lahore Railway Station to the southern locality of Green Town while passing through the densely populated areas of the metropolis.

 “This is just the beginning to cut down the smoke emissions that have been contributing to the air pollution in Lahore; a similar service will be launched in the other cities soon,” Imran Ali, Chief Executive Officer, Punjab Transport Company, told WealthPK. In winters, Lahore has been experiencing the worst smoggy conditions since 2016 and is mostly ranked as the most polluted city in those days along with the Indian capital, New Deli. Imran Ali said the introduction of e-vehicles will not only cut down the fossil fuel import bill but also help bring down vehicular exhausts whose contribution had been estimated at a staggering level of 43 percent.

 As per expansion plan, 500 more e-buses would be added by August this year as a part of the government’s efforts to replace the four wheelers and three wheelers with public transport. By launching the e-bus service, Pakistan has joined the club of countries replacing their diesel-powered public transport with electric vehicles. China is a leader in this regard with over 500,000 electric buses plying roads of Beijing and other cities. In neighboring India, electric buses are fast replacing fossil fuel vehicles in most of the urban centers including New Delhi.

 The newly introduced e-buses have the battery capacity of 350kWh, with a 200-kWh charger requiring three hours for a full charge, while a single DC fast charger can charge a bus in just half an hour. With a range of 300 kilometers, these buses can efficiently cover their 250-kilometer routes.Besides Punjab, Sindh has also decided to induct 8,000 e-buses into the Peoples Bus Service (PBS) fleet over four years, with the first phase introducing 1,500 buses during the current year.

 Environmentalists term the e-buses’ introduction a big leap toward grappling with smog. However, they propose a holistic approach to battle environmental degradation. “The launch of e-buses is a welcome step; but the government will have to ensure that only petroleum products of Euro-4 specification are used by the vehicles. The government has to improve the road conditions too to avert traffic jams,” Hammad Naqi Khan, Director General of WWF Pakistan said in an interview with WealthPK.

 He said Lahorites should be encouraged to travel by mass transit system instead of using their own cars and motorcycles. “The lesser the vehicles on roads, the greater will be the chances of a cleaner atmosphere,” Naqi said. All the other factors contributing to poor air quality, including the unabated construction activities, industrial emissions and brick kilns, should be kept under control. Only by targeting one factor, the problem of air pollution cannot be resolved.

 The WWF Pakistan chief said, besides the introduction of the e-bus service, efforts should also be made to promote the local production of electric vehicles so that personal vehicles, including cars and motorcycles, should be emission free. “We can win the war against air pollution with the active contribution of each and every segment of the society as the government alone can’t work wonders,” he maintained.

Credit: INP-WealthPk