Peshawar Pink Bus for women: 21 km BRT route, 18 stations, fare 25% lower

Peshawar's Pink Bus for women is now running on the BRT corridor. Five women-only buses cover the 21 km route from Gulbahar Chowk to Karkhano Market, stopping at 18 stations about every 15 minutes, Monday to Friday, at morning, noon and evening peak hours. Women on the Pink Bus pay a fare 25 percent lower than on other BRT buses, Chief Minister Sohail Afridi announced at the launch.

Afridi inaugurated the service on 29 September at the new Mall of Hayatabad depot, along with 52 new hybrid buses for the Zu Peshawar BRT fleet.

Peshawar Pink Bus: route, timings and fare

• Route: Gulbahar Chowk to Karkhano Market, the main BRT corridor (21 km)
• Stations: 18
• Days: Monday to Friday
• Hours: morning, noon and evening peak times
• Frequency: roughly every 15 minutes
• Fare: 25 percent below the regular BRT fare
• Fleet: five buses, driven by women

The exact start and end times of each peak window had not been published at the time of writing. The service is aimed at female students, working women and other women passengers who use the corridor to reach colleges, offices and markets.

52 more buses on Peshawar BRT

The new hybrid buses take the Peshawar BRT fleet from 244 to 296. Transport officials said the extra buses should mean shorter waits on existing routes and let the network reach new areas. The Transport Department said new routes will follow, without giving dates.

New Hayatabad depot and a solar-powered Chamkani depot

• Mall of Hayatabad depot: parking, inspection bays and workshops, a fuel station, an automatic bus wash and facilities for drivers. A depot at the Hayatabad end means fewer empty runs back across the city before and after service.
• Chamkani depot: a 1 MW solar plant expected to produce 1.38 to 1.44 million units of electricity a year and save about Rs 74.4 million a year on power bills.

What it means if you commute on the corridor

A woman travelling the full corridor twice a day, five days a week, now pays a quarter less on those trips if she takes the Pink Bus during its hours. Outside peak windows and at weekends, the regular mixed buses remain the option.

For anyone weighing the bus against a car or motorbike on the same route, the 42 km round trip adds up. Enter your mileage in our fuel cost calculator and check today's fuel rate on the petrol price page to compare a month of fuel with a month of fares.

What the chief minister said

Afridi said he had promised Pink Buses for women across the province and that they were now on the roads. He praised the women drivers as role models. In the same speech he said PTI's long march planned for 4 October would go ahead, a separate story that may affect traffic toward Islamabad this weekend.