Peshawar: The BRT project started during the PTI regime is suffering from a financial deficit.
A fare hike has been proposed once again to meet the deficit of BRT and a summary containing the proposals of the KP Urban Mobility Authority has been sent to the provincial government.
According to the document, under the first proposal, it is recommended to increase the rent by Rs. An increase of Rs 10 will bring an annual income of Rs 67 crore 21 lakh.
According to the document, despite the increase in oil prices, the BRT fares have not been increased, by not changing the fares, the provincial government is giving heavy subsidies, and increasing the fares will reduce the burden on the provincial government in terms of subsidy.
The document also states that along with the increase in fares, other options will also have to be worked on, an increase of 10 to 20 rupees has been suggested in the fares of express route buses, and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government is giving more than 3 billion rupees annually to BRT. Last year in June 2023, BRT fares were increased by Rs.5.
On the other hand, Chief Executive Officer of Trans Peshawar Tariq Usman while talking to Geo News said that due to the increase in subsidy of BRT, he has proposed to increase the fares.
Tariq Usman said that we have serious reservations about the Peshawar Development Authority, the government gives subsidies in all bus service projects in the world, KP government has kept 4 billion 90 crore rupees as a subsidy for BRT in the budget.
