Rawalpindi–Islamabad Metrobus

The Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metrobus is a 83.6 km (51.9 mi) bus rapid transit system operating in the Islamabad–Rawalpindi metropolitan area of Pakistan. It consists of four routes, namely the Red, Orange, Blue, and Green Lines. The Red and Orange Lines have dedicated lanes with proper stations built along them, while the Blue and Green Lines currently run along the Islamabad Expressway and Srinagar Highway respectively, along with regular traffic.

The Metrobus network's Red Line was the first to be opened, on 4 June 2015, and stretches 22.5 kilometers between Pak Secretariat, in Islamabad, and Saddar in Rawalpindi. The second route, the Orange Line, stretches 25.6 kilometres between the Peshawar Morr Interchange and the Islamabad International Airport, and was inaugurated on 18 April 2022.^[6][7][8] On 7 July 2022, the Green and Blue Lines were added to this Metrobus network.^[9]

The system uses e-ticketing and an Intelligent Transportation System (ITS), where the Red Line is managed by the Punjab Mass Transit Authority (PMTA) while the rest are being managed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA).^[10]

On 25 November 2023, the CDA announced that it would be importing 160 buses from China, to operate on routes defined by the CDA and operated by the NRTC. One batch was set to arrive in January, while the other was set to arrive in February or March.^[11] On 7 January the first batch of 30 buses arrived in Islamabad.^[12] On 1 April, a batch of 30 buses from China was scheduled to be received at Karachi and from there reach Islamabad within three weeks.^[13] On 22 May, a batch arrived in Karachi.^[14] On 4 June 2024 a batch of 30 buses was received in Islamabad.^[15]

Public transport in Islamabad and Rawalpindi was rarely a viable option for commuting as many parts of the city weren't connected to the center of Rawalpindi–Islamabad Metropolitan areas. Therefore, after the completion of the Lahore Metrobus, plans for a similar project in the Rawalpindi–Islamabad Metropolitan area were made.

Construction of the bus rapid transit system began on 28 February 2014 and was completed by June 2015, with 60 buses initially traveling the route. The Rawalpindi Development Authority was tasked with overseeing the project at a cost of approximately Rs. 44.31 billion (US$160 million), which was split between the federal government and the Punjab provincial government.^[16]

The project was initially divided into five packages, where Package-1 consisted of flyovers, bridges and pedestrian underpasses. The project was started on 23 April 2014 and completed on 27 March 2015 at a total cost of Rs. 33.5 billion (US$120 million) as quoted by the contractor of the project. The construction project was awarded to Habib Construction Services which is one of the largest construction companies of Pakistan and who have worked on several other large projects previously.

In February 2023, PMTA announced the creation of express route for Red Line from Monday till Thursday, these being Saddar to Faizabad and Faiz Ahmad Faiz to Rehmanabad.

The 25.6 km Orange Line track, from Peshawar Morr to New Islamabad International Airport, worth Rs. 16 billion (US$57 million) was started by the PML-N government in 2017 and was originally scheduled for completion in 2018.^[17] After a delay of five years, it was inaugurated on 18 April 2022 by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.^[6][7] Thirty buses were expected to arrive from China for this route, but they faced delays due to the closure of the Port of Shanghai as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, the CDA started the operations on this route by borrowing 15 buses from the Red Line^[18] and the Faiz Ahmad Faiz Station of Red Line was turned into an Interchange Station between Red Line and Orange Line.^[19] For the first month of Ramadan, orange line was free to ride on.^[20]

Seeing the dire situation of public transport in Islamabad, the new PML-N government began work on the Blue Line and Green Line routes of Rawalpindi – Islamabad Metro Bus. Initially, the Blue Line route was between the PIMS and Koral Chowk while the Green Line route was between the PIMS and Bhara Kahu before more stops were added to these corridors later on. For this purpose, 30 buses were ordered from China, of which 15 were placed on the Orange Line route, while the rest were placed on Blue and Green Line routes.^[18]

For these new routes, the federal government created the Capital Mass Transit Authority (CMTA) to run the operations of the Orange, Green, and Blue Lines, as well as of all the future metro bus routes.^[21]

In late 2022, the CDA approached the National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST) to carry out a feasibility study to identify new potential routes. As a result of that study, 13 new bus routes were identified by the NUST.^[22] These routes are intended to connect the existing Rawalpindi – Islamabad Metro Bus Network to all corners of Islamabad.^[23]

Upon his arrival in Islamabad, the new CDA Chairman Noorul Amin Mengal announced the starting of work on these new routes.^[24][25]

Out of 13 marked feeder routes, 4 routes have been made operational, namely FR-4 (Bari Imam to PIMS), FR-7 (PIMS to NUST), FR-3A (PIMS to Pak Sect via Faisal Masjid) and FR-9 (Faizabad to Pirwadhi Mor). Moreover, a shuttle service from Bari Imam to QAU also introduced namely FR-4A to facilitate QAU students.

The functional elements of the Red and Orange Line Stations include ticketing booths, concourse level passenger transfer, escalators, platform screens, public toilets, doors, turnstiles for automatic fare collection and other amenities for passenger convenience. A central ITS control room is also included in the project to control the whole operation of the Metro Bus system.

Meanwhile, stations of Green and Blue Line are at ground-level, however, at most places, there are no pedestrian crossings on main highways such as Kashmir Highway. This puts commuters at risk and reduces interest in the service.

The Red and Orange Lines uses e-ticketing and an Intelligent Transportation System wand influenced by the Peshawar BRT. The ticketing options include a single-ride token and a refillable metro bus card.

On the other hand, the Green and Blue Line don't have any proper standardized ticketing system yet. As of October 2024, the CDA is working on working on creating a streamline ticketing system for the feeder routes as they have KentKart based ticket solutions which support card payment, online through-app, and one-time paper-based tickets. However, the launching of these solutions is currently pending.

The initial fleet consisted of 68 articulated, 18 meter-long, high-floor buses for the Red Line route. These buses were imported and supplied by VPL Limited from the China-based company Sunwin Bus, which is a joint venture formed between the SAIC Motor Corporation Limited and the Sweden-based Volvo Bus Company. VPL Limited also happens to be the sole after-sales distributor for both Volvo Buses and Sunwin Buses in Pakistan, among other products.

In 2022, 30 buses were imported from China for the Orange Line route.^[33] Twenty of these buses are traveling on the Orange Line route. Moreover, 20 low floor buses were also procured for the Blue and Green Lines (10 each).

Electric buses for feeder routes

About 160 HIGER model electric buses have been handed over to the NRTC (contractor of the CDA) at China for onward dispatch to Islamabad, Pakistan. These new buses will travel on 13 intracity feeder routes in Islamabad.

The rainy season of 2015 exposed significant problems with the drainage systems of the network. One of the worst affected stations was the PIMS metrobus station, which had severe flooding, affecting operations severely.^[34] Similarly, cracks appeared after a minor earthquake in Rawalpindi, which raised questions over the structural integrity of the infrastructure used in the project.^[35]

The long-term financial model used to run the project is a subject of serious controversy surrounding the project. Reports show that although 150,000 passengers were expected, due to both the CDA and RDA's lack of interest in creating feeder routes, the project was unable to produce over 80,000 passengers in the long run. It became extremely difficult for management to afford the fuel costs for 68 buses, so they had to reduce the number of buses being used down to 35. This led to jamming and overcrowding during peak travelling hours.^[36]

The Orange Line route became controversial after it got delayed for nearly 5 years. Although meant to be inaugurated in August 2018, for one reason or another, it couldn't be completed until April 2022.^[37] Even after its completion, people noticed electrical and civil works still being continued in sections of Orange Line track. Furthermore, when the question of operating it came, there was dispute between the CDA, NHA and Punjab MetroBus Authority. It was finally decided that the CDA would run it until a Metro Bus Authority for Islamabad was created.

In 2015, a controversy surrounding project's annual loss emerged. According to official numbers, a single bus trip costs 9,100 PKR, while it earns only 2,600 PKR. This results in a loss of Rs. 6,500 (US$23) each trip. The subsidy of this project was paid by Punjab government initially, but after heavy loans accumulated on the Punjab government in paying these subsidies, it was decided in 2016 to divide the load between the Punjab government and the CDA on the basis of length in Rawalpindi and Islamabad.^[38] However, the CDA refused to pay for the losses of the metro bus project, attributing it to the lack of funds in 2016. The federal government provided funds to the CDA to help shoulder the burden of the Punjab Masstransit Authority in 2016, however, in 2017 the problem surfaced again, raising questions on the long-term losses and the financial burden of this underused project.^[39]

• Rapid transit in Pakistan
• Lahore Metrobus
• Multan Metrobus
• Karachi Metrobus
• TransPeshawar

• Punjab Masstransit Authority website
• Punjab transport department website