PESHAWAR: TransPeshawar, the company running the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in Peshawar, has said the service will be resumed one day ahead of the earlier announced date.

According to a spokesman for the company, TransPeshawar is fully active to provide best travelling facilities to citizens. He said the BRT service will be resumed under the recommendations of the bus company on October 24.

The spokesman said the BRT service was suspended temporarily keeping in view the safety of passengers. He said the experts of the bus company worked day in and day out to resume the service as quickly as possible. He said all the buses have been checked, modern equipment has been installed and road testing has also been carried out.

The spokesman said the citizens will be able to take advantage of the best travelling facilities from October 24. He said wearing of facemasks has been declared mandatory for all the passengers travelling in the BRT buses. He also requested the passengers not to sit on the seats specified for women, differently abled persons and elderly persons.

TransPeshawar has also advised passengers to wait for next bus if the first bus did not have space.

Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister’s Special Assistant on Information Kamran Bangash had said the BRT service would be resumed on October 25. On October 19 a statement was issued about resumption of test service of BRT.

The long awaited mega project was inaugurated on August 13, but it was suspended after one month due to repeated incidents of fire eruption in the buses. Chinese engineers were brought to Peshawar to remove technical fault from the buses.

The KP government has come under sharp criticism particularly from the opposition parties over its mishandling of the BRT project.

The Awami National Party (ANP) provincial president Aimal Wali Khan had said in at a press conference in Peshawar that the BRT project is an example of bad governance by the KP government. He alleged that blue eyed persons were given jobs in BRT in violation of merit. He said the money spent on BRT should have been spent on development of merged tribal districts.