From a 27-bus Lahore pilot to tehsil depots, the Rs20 service is expanding fast; here are the routes, fares and next steps.
LAHORE: Punjab’s electric bus network, launched as a 27-bus pilot in Lahore less than two years ago, is set to reach every corner of the province after the cabinet approved 1,500 more buses for 91 tehsils, with services due to start in January and a target of 3,000 electric buses on the road by June 2027.
Transport Minister Bilal Akbar has been given charge of the tehsil rollout, which will establish local depots for charging and maintenance.
Lahore routes and fares
Lahore’s first route, opened in early 2025, runs 21 km from the Railway Station to Green Town via Queens Road, Mozang, Ferozepur Road, Campus Bridge and the Ichhra canal, passing Charing Cross, Ganga Ram Hospital, Punjab University and Akbar Chowk. It was launched with 27 buses arriving every nine minutes and was designed for about 17,000 passengers a day.
Each bus has 30 seats and room for 80 passengers, a range of about 250 km per charge, GPS tracking, Wi-Fi, USB charging, CCTV cameras, wheelchair ramps and anti-slip floors. Nine chargers serve the fleet at the Green Town depot.
A second phase in October 2025 added 40 buses on two routes: Raiwind to Jinnah Terminal at Thokar Niaz Baig, and Jinnah Terminal to Harbanspura. Lahore was allocated 12 more buses in July this year.
The fare remains Rs20. Students, senior citizens and people with disabilities ride free.
Beyond Lahore
The service has spread quickly. By July, 400 electric buses were operating in 18 districts, and new routes had opened in Khanewal, Khushab, Bhakkar, Attock, Mandi Bahauddin and Hafizabad. Chiniot, Sialkot, Okara, Murree and Layyah followed later that month, and Multan’s fleet launched in September on the same Rs20 fare.
Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz opened a 15-bus green service on three routes in Attock on Nov 3, and four electric buses ran a free shuttle between Sui Asal railway crossing and the Raiwind Tablighi Ijtema from Nov 5 to 8.
The tehsil plan
Under the scheme first outlined in September, Rawalpindi division is to receive 219 buses for 16 tehsils, Bahawalpur 215 for 11, Faisalabad 202 for 12, Sargodha 198 for 14, Multan 169 for nine, Gujranwala 125 for seven, Gujrat 122 for eight, Sahiwal 87 for four and Dera Ghazi Khan 63 for 10.
The chief minister has set a longer goal of 5,000 electric buses within five years.
Delivery will be the test. In July the government said about 1,100 electric buses would be operating by Aug 15; it has not published a province-wide fleet count since, and the current number of buses on Lahore’s routes has not been officially updated.
Charging capacity, depot land and driver training will need to keep pace with imports, and Chinese manufacturers are exploring local EV bus assembly plants in Punjab that could cut costs and reliance on shipments.
For Lahore, where vehicle exhaust is one of the main local contributors to winter smog, the case for moving commuters from motorcycles and rickshaws to clean buses has rarely looked stronger. Commuters can check routes and timings through the Punjab Transport Department and the Punjab Mass Transit Authority.
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