LAHORE: Punjab Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz Sharif has approved the extension of the province’s electrobus service down to the tehsil level, clearing 1,500 electric buses for 91 tehsils with operations scheduled to begin in January 2027.
Each tehsil will also get a dedicated electrobus depot, an approval that addresses the charging and maintenance gap that has constrained electric fleets elsewhere in the country.
The first batch of buses for the tehsil-level service will arrive in Lahore in January 2027. The Chief Minister has separately approved the supply of additional electrobuses to a range of districts.
A target of 3,000 electrobuses running across Punjab by June 2027 has been set, with directions issued to complete the first phase of the service by September.
Related: Punjab to Give 125,000 Free-Registration E-Bikes to Students
Under the plan, 169 buses will run across nine tehsils of Multan, 87 across four tehsils of Sahiwal, and 215 across 11 tehsils of Bahawalpur. Dera Ghazi Khan’s 10 tehsils have been allocated 63 buses, Faisalabad’s 12 tehsils 202, and Sargodha’s 14 tehsils 198.
Gujranwala’s seven tehsils have been allocated 125 buses, Gujrat’s eight tehsils 122, and Rawalpindi’s 16 tehsils 219 — the largest single district allocation in the plan.
A total of 612 electrobuses are already operational across various districts of Punjab, carrying hundreds of thousands of citizens daily. A further 192 buses, including in Multan, are expected to become functional within days.
Additional buses will be supplied to Sargodha, Sahiwal, Faisalabad, Lahore, Muzaffargarh, Rawalpindi, Jhang, Bahawalpur, Rahim Yar Khan and Attock. Bhakkar, Hafizabad, Khanewal, Chiniot, Layyah, Okara, Sialkot, Murree, Gujrat, Sheikhupura, Mandi Bahauddin, Vehari, Kasur, Lodhran, Nankana Sahib, Narowal, Gujranwala and Multan will also receive extra buses.
Work on the Faisalabad and Gujranwala mass transit systems is progressing rapidly, while projects for the construction and rehabilitation of 25 stations on the Lahore Metrobus service are nearing completion.
The tehsil-level extension marks a structural shift in how public transport is delivered in Punjab. Organised bus services in the province have historically stopped at the divisional or district headquarters, leaving tehsil towns dependent on informal wagon and rickshaw networks with no fixed timetable, no fare regulation and no accessibility provision.
Pushing a scheduled, electric fleet into 91 tehsils simultaneously is an unusually large single procurement by Pakistani standards, and its success will hinge less on the buses than on the depots, the charging infrastructure and the operating subsidy required to keep fares affordable once the service is live.
Leave a Reply