LAHORE METRO BUS SYSTEM: GAJUMATA TO SHAHDARA

Introduction:
Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), also called a busway or transitway, is a bus-based
public transport system designed to improve capacity and reliability relative to a
conventional bus system. Typically, a BRT system includes roadways that are
dedicated to buses, and gives priority to buses at intersections where buses may
interact with other traffic; alongside design features to reduce delays caused by
passengers boarding or leaving buses, or purchasing fares. BRT aims to combine the
capacity and speed of a metro with the flexibility, lower cost and simplicity of a bus
system.
The first BRT system was the Rede Integrada de Transporte ('Integrated
Transportation Network') in Curitiba, Brazil, which entered service in 1974.
As of March 2018, a total of 167 cities in six continents have implemented BRT
systems, accounting for 4,976 km (3,048 mi) of BRT lanes and about 32.5 million
passengers every day, of which about 19.6 million passengers ride daily in Latin
America, which has the most cities with BRT systems, with 54, led by Brazil with 21
cities. The Latin American countries with the most daily ridership are Brazil (10.7M),
Colombia (3.06M), and Mexico (2.5M). In the other regions, China (4.3M) and Iran
(2.1M) also stand out.
Currently, TransJakarta is considered as the largest BRT network in the world
with approximately 251.2 kilometres (156.1 mi) of corridors connecting the Indonesian
capital city.
Bus rapid transit takes its name from rail rapid transit, which describes a high-
capacity urban public-transit system with its own right of way, multiple-car vehicles at
short headways, and longer stop spacing than traditional streetcars and buses. BRT
uses buses on a wide variety of rights-of-way, including mixed traffic, dedicated lanes
on surface streets, and busways separated from traffic.
The expression "BRT" is mainly used in the Americas and China; in India, it is
called "BRTS" (BRT System); in Europe and Indonesia, it is often called a "busway";
while in the British Isles, it may be called a "quality bus".
Critics have charged that the term "bus rapid transit" has sometimes been
misapplied to systems that lack most or all the essential features which differentiate it
1
from conventional bus services. The term "bus rapid transit creep" has been used to
describe severely degraded levels of bus service which fall far short of the BRT
Standard promoted by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and
other organizations.
The Lahore Metrobus is a bus rapid transit service operating in Lahore Punjab,
Pakistan. Lahore Metrobus service is integrated with Lahore Transport Company's local
bus service to operate as one urban transport system, providing seamless transit
service across Lahore District with connections to neighboring suburban communities.
The Lahore Metrobus was designed to be opened in stages, with the first stage
opening on 11 February 2013 stretching from Gajumata to Shahadra. The 27 km
stretch was opened during a ceremony by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif
along with Deputy Prime Minister of Turkey Bekir Bozdağ
.
History

The first use of a protected busway was the East Side Trolley Tunnel in
Providence, Rhode Island. It was converted from trolley to bus use in 1948. However,
the first BRT system in the world was the OC Transpo system in Ottawa, Canada.
Introduced in 1973, the first element of its BRT system was dedicated bus lanes through
the city centre, with platformed stops. The introduction of the first exclusive separate
busways (termed 'Transitway') occurred in 1983. By 1996, all of the originally
envisioned 31 km Transitway system was in operation; further expansions were opened
in 2009, 2011, and 2014. As of 2017, the central part of the Transitway is being
converted to a Light Rail Transit, due to the downtown section being operated beyond
its designed capacity.

The second BRT system in the world was the Rede Integrada de Transporte
(RIT, integrated transportation network), implemented in Curitiba, Brazil, in 1974. Most
of the elements that have become associated with BRT were innovations first
suggested by Curitiba Mayor Architect Jaime Lerner. Initially just dedicated bus lanes in
the center of major arterial roads, in 1980 the Curitiba system added a feeder bus
network and inter-zone connections, and in 1992 introduced off-board fare collection,
enclosed stations, and platform-level boarding. Other systems made further innovations,

2
including platooning (three buses entering and leaving bus stops and traffic signals at
once) in Porto Alegre, and passing lanes and express service in São Paulo.

In the United States, BRT began in 1977, with Pittsburgh's South Busway,
operating on 4.3 miles (6.9 km) of exclusive lanes. Its success led to the Martin Luther
King Jr. East Busway in 1983, a fuller BRT deployment including a dedicated busway of
9.1 miles (14.6 km), traffic signal preemption, and peak service headway as low as two
minutes. After the opening of the West Busway, 5.1 miles (8.2 km) in length in 1990,
Pittsburgh’s Busway system is today over 18.5 miles long.

In 1995, Quito, Ecuador, opened trolleybus BRT. The TransMilenio in Bogotá,

Colombia, opening in 2000, was the first BRT system to combine the best elements of
Curitiba's BRT with other BRT advances, and achieved the highest capacity and highest
speed BRT system in the world. The success of TransMilenio spurred other cities to
develop high quality BRT systems.

In January 2004 the first BRT in Asia, TransJakarta, opened in Jakarta,

Indonesia. As of 2015, at 210 kilometres (130 mi), it is the longest BRT system in the
world.

Africa's first BRT system was opened in Lagos, Nigeria, in March 2008 but is
considered as a light BRT system by many people. Johannesburg’s BRT, Rea Vaya,
was the first true BRT in Africa, in August 2009, carrying 16,000 daily passengers. Rea
Vaya and MIO (BRT in Cali, Colombia, opened 2009) were the first two systems to
combine full BRT with some services that also operated in mixed traffic, then joined the
BRT trunk infrastructure.[14]

Objectives of the Programme:

Bus rapid transit takes its name from rail rapid transit, which describes a high-
capacity urban public-transit system with its own right of way, multiple-car vehicles at
short headways, and longer stop spacing than traditional streetcars and buses. BRT
uses buses on a wide variety of rights-of-way, including mixed traffic, dedicated lanes
on surface streets, and busways separated from traffic.

3
 The expression "BRT" is mainly used in the Americas and China; in India, it is
called "BRTS" (BRT System); in Europe and Indonesia, it is often called a "busway";
while in the British Isles, it may be called a "quality bus".

Critics have charged that the term "bus rapid transit" has sometimes been misapplied to
systems that lack most or all the essential features which differentiate it from
conventional bus services. The term "bus rapid transit creep" has been used to describe
severely degraded levels of bus service which fall far short of the BRT Standard
promoted by the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and other
organizations.

Problem Statement:
Mass transit system is one of the major means of sustainable mobility. Bus
Rapid Transit is getting popular among the mass transit options. In previous years many
developed and under developed countries have adopted this system.
BRT has several advantages. Low operational and investment costs are the
major benefits of this system. The Lahore BRT is known as Lahore Metro bus and
travels from Shahdara to Gajumata on Ferozepur road Lahore which is one of the
busiest roads in Lahore. Its operation started in 10th of February, 2013. The
construction of 27km Metro bus Lahore completed in 11 months.

How the Issues were addressed:

The system is very flexible and there is no need of subsidy which is politically
and economically very satisfactory. The service quality of buses can be improved by
providing this system and also for alternative of high budget projects such as rail
system. Even so, the contradiction among planners still exists to choose between bus
rapid transit and light rail transit (Hensher, 1999).
However, to plan, implement and operate a BRT system is not such an easy task
and political leadership and consistency is needed. Moreover, technical staff and
management of the system are also important. In urban planning and economics many
BRT designs and technology schemes should be considered to combine necessary
urban policies (Hensher, 2007). BRT totally affects the public transport of any city. So,

4
evaluation of different applications and monitoring of this system should be done
carefully.
BRT is operating in more than 160 countries facilitating more than 30 million daily
passengers. By the time, BRT is getting popular among Mass Transit means, as
according to 2001 stats only 23 cities had implemented this system, but in years from
2002 up till now, more than 115 countries have adopted this system. (EMBARQ)
Lahore is one of the major cities in the world that have adopted BRT system. The
Lahore BRT is known as Lahore Metro bus and travels from Shahdara to Gajumata on
Ferozepur road Lahore which is one of the busiest roads in Lahore. Its operation started
in 10th of February, 2013. The construction of 27km Metro bus Lahore completed in
11 months. It has one dedicated lane per direction.
The Metrobus has improved the public transport and it provides high capacity
and fast transportation to citizens. As it present on one of the major highways, it has
impacted much on transportation of Lahore.
Many urban planners have criticized the construction of Metrobus Lahore.
According to them mono rail system could be better. This is still an issue. Even so
Metrobus is quite popular and has a great popularity among its users.
This paper covers the planning, construction, political stages of BRT. This will tell
that how much has BRT affected the Transport in Lahore and how efficiently is the BRT
system fulfilling its objectives.

PLANNING BACKGROUND OF BRT IN LAHORE

Lahore is one of the major cities of Pakistan and the World. The total population
of LMA (Lahore Metropolitan area) is 7.7 Million as estimated in 2001. Most of the
population lives in urban areas. The average annual urban growth rate of District Lahore
was 4.3% during 1951-61. It was declined to 3.32% during 1981-98. It is still one of the
highest rates in the world. The population increment calculated for 2001-2020 was 4.2
Million. The population had to be accommodated in areas where land was available for
development. At that time, thousands of hectors was available in southwest corridor,
between Multan road and Ferozepur road.
The average income recorded in 2010 was around PKR 20,000. The transport
sector accounts for 10.5% of Pakistan’s GDP. The need of a Transportation System that
could accommodate a large number of passengers was quite important. The distribution

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of vehicles among people is according to income. Low income groups ride bicycle.
Motor cycles are owned by the people of middle to high income households ranging
income from 20 to 50 thousand PKR .According to 2010 statistics Walking shares about
40% of all motorized trips in Lahore, motorcycle 22% (driver and passenger), public
transport 20% (bus, wagon, rickshaw, etc.) and car 8%. Only 14% people in Lahore are
regular users of bus (including wagon and other carriages). The reason is that people
are not satisfied by their quality. According to people a huge improvement in public
transport is required. The need of a system that can provide safe, inexpensive and time
efficient transport was required. BRT was the answer for that. (JICA)
The city like Lahore, having very high travel demand should have all arterial
routes be operated as BRT. BRT has the ability to provide larger ridership with better
efficiency than ordinary buses and hence it reduces the overall bus routes in the city.
Ferozepur road corridor was selected as the most busiest and main route and First
corridor for BRT in Lahore.
 Political Considerations
Lahore Metrobus is developed by Punjab Metrobus Authority and also operated
by the same authority. From the beginning, it was planned to be constructed on
Ferozepur road which is one of the busiest corridors in Lahore.
Ferozepur road was accepted by planners as the best corridor and BRT has not
been criticized over the location. An issue of selecting BRT over LRT (Light rail Transit)
is still under discussion. Due to quick and easy execution of BRT, it was preferred over
LRT; also Pakistan has been under electricity crisis since many years. So, the BRT was
preferred and constructed but this issue is still not accepted by many of the planners.
BRT in Lahore is working efficiently and has a very good turn over which proves that
selecting BRT over LRT is not a big deal for passengers. The people are using the
facility and they do not any query about not selecting LRT.
 Planning and Construction
The planning of any project is most important phase. Finance and Politics are
two major pillars for sustainability of any project (Pelin Alpkokin, Murat Ergun, 2012).
BRT Lahore is supported perfectly by both. BRT Lahore was constructed with the
assistance of Turkish company AL Barak and now is under the management of Punjab
Metrobus authority. From the start of construction, it is politically supported and subsidy
is given by local government to passengers.

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 In some cities of world, BRT is used as a wide means of transportation but in
case of BRT Lahore, it is similar to Istanbul BRT (Turkey) and Nagoya BRT in Japan,
which are the corridors inside the main city. Ferozepur road was selected corridor for
BRT Lahore and it was appreciated by most of the urban planners.
Ferozepur road had three lanes for mixed traffic in each direction before
providing Metrobus. The median lane for BRT was designed without losing any of the
lanes provided for mixed traffic.
The BRT Lahore is a very good example of rapid and economically efficient
construction. It took only 11 months and around 29.8 B PKR for construction of
Metrobus Lahore: Ferozepur road corridor (Dawn News, 2014). The BRT Lahore
system has an enormous infrastructure which is consisted of stations that accommodate
not only buses but also people quite comfortably, a large number of buses, overhead
bridges and junctions etc. The BRT Lahore stations accommodate 3 buses and at some
places only 2.
The Ferozepur road is not going to be the only corridor for BRT in Pakistan as
the government is taking steps to build the BRT in other cities also. The next steps are
Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Faisalabad.

OVERVIEW OF METROBUS
To summarize the performance and effects of Metrobus Lahore, data has been
collected from surveys and Metrobus authority Lahore. An overview about enactment
since February 2013 has been discussed in this section.
The corridor through which Metrobus Lahore passes is Ferozepur road which is
one of the busiest roads in Lahore. The corridor consists of urban areas as well as
some underdeveloped areas. The Ferozepur road is a 3 lane north-south road and
connects Lahore from Qartaba Chowk to Kasur District.
Metrobus has a very high directional capacity. There is no extra lane provided for
overtaking. In peak hours, the frequency of buses is up to one bus per 30s. The
average time headway is 3 minutes. In peak hours a convoy of two buses is departed to
accommodate the demand of peak hours. Passenger capacity of buses used in BRT
Lahore is 160 which generate an average directional capacity of 3906 passengers per
hour.

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 Metrobus Lahore has a maximum speed of 45km/h, whereas the average
speed is 26km/h. The average dwell time at bus stations is 20s. The speed seems low,
but due to no traffic jams, the time consumption for same length on Metrobus is much
lesser than on Ferozepur road. The time required to complete the trip on this 27km
network from beginning to last station is approximately 63 minutes.
In contrast to other public buses and some of BRT systems around the globe
which have distance based fare system, Metrobus has a fix fare of 20PKR for any
distance of travel. In only a single year the Metrobus Lahore has achieved much
popularity and a huge utilization. The average daily ridership of Metrobus Lahore is
almost 125,000. This service is provided between 6:15am to 10pm, 7 days a week.
Peak hours are between 7am to 10am and 4pm to 8pm. Surveys reveal that a huge
number of students and people from lower middle class to middle class are using this
facility frequently.

POLICY EVALUATION
The Metrobus Lahore has made a huge impact on the urban transportation of Lahore.
To find out whether it has made the transport in Lahore better or not, the evaluation is
performed on financial, safety, transportation performance and social acceptability
terms. Along with this, some other key factors like environmental stability, social equity
and Regional accessibility impacts are also discussed in this part.
 Transportation performance
o Service Level
The massive ridership of Metrobus Lahore shows the popularity of this system
among the local public. It has lessened the dominancy of public buses on Ferozepur
road because it is timely and economically much more efficient than other public
facilities provided for the citizens. The Metrobus facility is reliable in comparison with
other transportation modes on this route in terms of time, safety and availability. 87%
respondents agree that the bus is always on time. The people who are not satisfied with
the time are those who do not use the facility often. However, 70% respondents have
agreed on the point that stations are overcrowded and also complain about no seat
availability which is not surprising as the calculated bus occupancy is 1.06. Signs,
shelters and escalators are provided at the stations but escalators at many stations are

8
not working properly (due to breakage in electricity supply). The survey also reveals that
the 20PKR fare for the ride is acceptable.
Electronic ticking system is provided at each Metrobus station in conjunction with
the manual ticket purchasing system from ticket booths. Most of the people are not
willing to purchase tickets from electronic ticketing machines so queues are formed on
ticket booths at rush hours which are predominantly higher on stations with high
demand (e.g. Shahdara station, Niazi chowk and Gajumata etc.)
o Station Ridership
The cities having larger population like Lahore are favorable for the implantation
of BRT. Lahore Metrobus was planned to get a higher ridership and has achieved so.
The first and last stations (Shahdara and Gajumata) in the 27km long corridor produce
the maximum ridership. The busiest station is Shahdara bus station having a daily
ridership of more than 16,000. Janazgah and second last station, Dulu Khurd has the
minimum ridership. The ease of station access/egress is an important factor that
determines the level of service for any transit system (Pelin Alpkokin, Murat Ergun,
2012) BRT Lahore has ridership from almost parts of city. 91% of Metrobus Riders
reach the station in less than 20 minutes. The average access time to station is 11.31
minutes which is not so bad.
o Accidents
Metrobus Lahore has made its positive impact on transportation and traffic condition of
Corridor-I. With Metrobus, accidents has been substantially reduced and 23 accidents
were recorded in 2013 (6 injured and 1 died). Moreover, there exits safety problems
arising from level crossings which are being over came by construction of grade
separated crossings at various locations.
Accident rate is 0.38 accidents per 100,000km travelled. There were total 23
accidents occurred between 10-Feb-2013 to 1-Dec-2013.

9
Regional Accessibility Impacts

BRT Lahore has been built to cater traveling demand on the corridor of
Ferozepur road and it has provided the passengers the facility, people have access as
well as better mode of transportation that is far better than other modes in many ways.
Due to implementation of Metrobus, people have access to the whole corridor and
surrounding areas. This access has short term as well as long term impacts.
One of the representative of a real estate agent confirmed that land value has
increased around the corridor of Metrobus Lahore. He further confirmed that there has
been land development and population sprawl in surrounding are on exceptional rate.
People are having mobility benefits. In addition, passengers are having Recreational
and social benefits. In sum, passengers and people living in surrounding areas are
having good impacts of increased accessibility.
 Environmental Sustainability
BRT systems are often associated with positive environmental, social and
economic benefits. BRT is shown to have a powerful influence in attracting new
economic development and sustainable growth along its corridor and around its stations

10
(Carvero &Kang, 2011; Rodríguez & Mojica, 2009; Munoz-Raskin, 2010; Rodríguez &
Targa, 2004), Like other successful transit services in the world, BRT Lahore has a
major role to play in reducing the impact of air pollution from its corridor. And this is
being environmentally sustainable because of the decrease in the number of vehicles in
the BRT corridor, resulting from a shift in modal share from other modes to BRT.
Moreover, decrease in tripe duration and waiting time for passengers and cars has
made the emissions lesser. As far as fuel is being consumed lesser as compared to
other modes, it has proven to be environmentally sustainable. The upshot of all this is
that BRT Lahore has been proved to be an appreciable development regarding
environmental sustainability.
 Financial Sustainability
BRT Lahore is owned and operated by local government. The system started
with 45 buses and due to large ridership, more buses were purchased. Currently, 64
buses are running on the Ferozepur road corridor in BRT Lahore.
Transportation infrastructure of any country affects the economy of the country in
a positive way. In case of BRT, usually no subsidy is required. For example, The
TransMillenio BRT Management Company in Bogota (Columbia) operates with
publically affordable fares and free of government funding, relying 100% on revenue
generated from the system. Unfortunately, BRT Lahore is dependent on Government
subsidy. It charges 20 PKR fare from its passengers but its actual cost per passenger is
60 PKR. The subsidy per passenger is calculated as 40 PKR (The Nation, 2014)
However, A survey (of 300 users) conducted from passengers of Metrobus Lahore
shows that 84.3% of sample size consider fare of Metrobus good while 14.7% consider
it fare. 61% of passengers consider fare/cost of their previous mode as poor. It is
suggestive of satisfaction of passengers regarding fare. BRT Lahore is providing its
passenger a very low price transport. Further, a single bus of BRT Lahore
accommodates more than double passengers than a conventional bus, so less space
coverage in dense areas is provided which is much better than conventional buses
creating daily jams.

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“Millions of commuters travel in the City daily at Chingchi rickshaws, worn out vans and
outdated buses and pay from Rs15 to Rs35 fare even at routes much smaller than that
of metro bus. If a commuter travels on some other bus of van from Gajumata to
Shahdara, he/she will have to pay around Rs. 60.” (The Nation, 2014)

Sentence: A survey (of 300 users) represents that 47% of passengers reach Metrobus
station by walking.
 Social Equity
Social equity in providing a transportation service is a key issue but is often less
understood than other impacts. Transportation equity can involve various impacts like
public facilities, user costs, Service quality and regulation etc. Social equity means
providing each person the minimum standards of urban facilities and services. (UKTRC,
Social Impacts and Equity in Transport)

Survey reveals that approximately 74.8% of Metrobus users have a household

income of around 25,000 PKR. Likewise, More than 50 % people in Lahore do not own
any vehicle. The subsidy given by government in fare is an important step in keeping
social equity among Metrobus users. Moreover, same facilities for all type of
passengers eradicate distinction between dissimilar public groups. Anyhow, people from
large income groups do not use this facility quite often. So, there is a need to enhance
level of service and quality of system to have a social equity.
 Social Acceptance
Being first rapid transit facility, BRT Lahore has now competitive. Furthermore,
there is no provision of standard Public transport. Consequently, Metrobus Lahore is
12
well accepted and embraced by public. Actually, it is because of better level of service
and system performance elements such as safety, reliability, economy and access.
According to a survey conducted by Punjab Metrobus Authority, more than 62% of
respondents used to pay fare more than 40 rupees. Conversely, fare of Metrobus
Lahore is 20 rupees. So, BRT Lahore has been accepted socially. More than 80% of the
respondents rated on board comfort as good and very good. Although, Metrobus has
been accepted well but there is a negative point and that is about 88% passengers
consider space to sit in bus while boarding important about 70% of users disagree to
the statement that there is enough space to sit in the bus.
 Modal Shifts
One of the major benefits of BRT is that it attracts passengers from other modes.
BRT Lahore has also managed to do so. The passengers are shifted from major modes
of transportation like cars, public buses and taxies etc. 41.3 % have shifted their mode
from bus/train. Ultimately, 36.3% Metrobus users are those who have left their own
vehicles either car, motorcycle or van etc. to use Metrobus facility. This has been a
great achievement of BRT and can also be increased by providing better level of
Service and system performance.

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Conclusions and Recommendations:
This paper provides an overall assessment of the Metrobus Lahore and its
effects on urban transportation in Lahore. The main discussion of this case study is to
give answers to the question that how well Metrobus Lahore has achieved its aims
towards sustainable mobility in Lahore. The impressive ridership and demand supports
the effectiveness of BRT Lahore.
The evaluations performed on different parameters like safety, comfort and social
aspects indicates that BRT Lahore has succeeded in some of its aspects but there is a
need to enhance its level of service. The future transport in Lahore requires better
planning and more sustainable mass transit means.
This research also provides further research opportunities on various aspects of
BRT Lahore and to provide better suggestions for urban transport in Lahore.

14
References:
References
 Carvero, R., & Kang, C. D. (2011). Bus rapid transit impacts on land uses and land
values in Seoul.
Transport Policy 18(1),, 102–116.

 Dawn News. (2014, Jan 24). Metrobus: mobility and sensibility.

 EMBARQ. (n.d.). Social, Environmental and Economical Impacts of BRT Systems.

 Hensher, D. (1999). a bus bases transit way or light rail? Continuing the saga on choice
versus blind.
commitment. Road & Transport Research, 8(3), 3-30.

 Hensher, D. (2007). Bus Transport:Economics,Policy and Planning, Research in

Transportation
Economics. Elsevier, 18.

 Munoz-Raskin, R. (2010). Walking accessibility to bus rapid transit: Does it affect

property values?The case of Bogotá, Colombia. Transport Policy, 17, 72–84.

 Pelin Alpkokin, Murat Ergun. (2012). Istanbul Metrobus: first intercontinental bus rapid
transit.
Elsevier.

 Rodríguez, D. A., & Mojica, C. H. (2009). Capitalization of BRT network expansions

effects into prices of non-expansion areas. Transportation Research Part A, 43, 560–571.

 Rodríguez, D. A., & Targa, F. (2004). Value of accessibility to Bogotá’s bus rapid transit
system.
Transport Reviews, 24(5), 587–610.

 The Nation. (2014, Jan 23). Is Metro Bus a success story?

 UKTRC. Social Impacts and Equity in Transport.

 Master plan Lahore summary, JICA study team, vol. 1

 Master plan Lahore summary, JICA study team, vol. 2

 Master plan Lahore summary, JICA study team, vol. 3

 “The Project for Lahore Urban Transport Master Plan in the Islamic Republic of
Pakistan”
by JICA

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PRESENTATION

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