Staff Reporter
The Orange Line Metro Train has been going through turbulent times where passengers are decreasing and in order to cover expenses, the authorities are pondering to reduce the one-way fare by Rs10.
The Punjab Mass Transit Authority is considering reducing the one-way fare from Rs40 to Rs30. The unpopularity of the Orange Line has now been exposed in the wake of performance report. Amid to ‘poor’ policy, the target of passengers has not been not be achieved.
The service has been limited to 50 to 60 thousand people daily instead of 250,000 passengers, while the recovery was also limited to Rs180 million. PMTA has also to pay Rs300 million electricity bill. On the other hand, the Lahore Development Authority (LDA) is willing to pay Rs9 billion after pressure was built up to release Rs10 billion for Orange Line Metro Train.
However, the LDA and MTA have locked their horns on the release of funds for four new megaprojects. The Orange Line Metro Train project was launched by the former chief minister Shahbaz Sharif but it was completed and inaugurated by arch-rival PTI-led Punjab government in 2020.
