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CM Punjab Maryam Nawaz rolled out the first 45 electric buses in Rawalpindi: air-conditioned, Wi-Fi-equipped, with mobile charging ports and CCTV inside. Fare is a flat Rs20, but women, students, senior citizens, and persons with special needs ride free. That’s a deliberate move to get more women on public transport and to blunt the usual criticism that new buses are too expensive for the average person.
The four initial routes for Electro in Rawalpindi are practical, not flashy:
Rawalpindi Electric Buses Route Map
They plan to scale up to 80 buses soon and replicate the model in Jhelum, Chakwal, and Attock. This isn’t just a Rawalpindi project; it’s the template Punjab wants to push across the smaller cities that never got metro-bus love before.
The bigger announcement was the Rs30 billion signal-free corridor in Rawalpindi, slated for completion next year. If it actually happens on time, 200,000 commuters a day will feel the difference immediately. Rawalpindi traffic is notoriously brutal; this could be the single most impactful infrastructure promise in the city in a decade.
Following that, she enthusiastically shared an extensive list of upcoming projects, detailing each one with specific goals and timelines.
What’s really going on here is classic PML-N playbook: flood the zone with concrete, visible projects, and tie every brick laid in the last thirty years back to a Sharif. Maryam’s line was blunt: “Except for PML-N, no one has ever laid a brick in Punjab.” That’s obviously hyperbolic, but it’s the narrative they want burned into people’s heads before the next election cycle: vote for anyone else and you get protests and dharnas; vote for us and you get roads, hospitals, buses.
The electric buses themselves are a smart political package. Cheap fare + free rides for half the population + women-only sections + CCTV = an answer to three voter complaints at once (cost, safety, and harassment). Whether the buses stay clean, the Wi-Fi actually works, and the free-ride policy doesn’t bankrupt the operator in six months will be the real test.
Bottom line: this wasn’t just a bus launch. It was Maryam Nawaz planting flags all over Rawalpindi and northern Punjab, reminding everyone who brings the development, and daring the opposition to match the pace.
Since 2017, Saba Ghani has been serving as the talented and dedicated chief content writer for Pakistan Tour and Travel & EMHI Solutions. With her exceptional writing skills and in-depth knowledge of the travel industry, she has been instrumental in crafting engaging and informative content that captivates the audience. You can catch her at saba@pakistantourntravel.com or Twitter
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