iority sector with the vision as ‘Provision of efficient, economical, comfortable and safe transport facility for the public in Punjab’. The stated objectives, in the MTDF 2013-16 are: i) To provide accessible and time saving travelling, ii) To develop environment friendly transport system, iii) To regulate, monitor and maintain a robust transport system in large cities of the province. The initiatives include encouraging private investment in urban transport sector in Public Private Partnership mode, provision of subsidy to the urban transporters to facilitate induction of new buses in the urban transport system and capacity building of the department through Transport Planning Unit. The current allocation for the sector is Rs. 6,360 Million. Public transport service delivery was done by government till late 1980s to an acceptable level. The successive governments continued to act as a service provider as well as a regulator. As of 2010, the population of Lahore was estimated at about 9.9 million most of which was concentrated in the center of Lahore, while rest of the areas are mostly rural except for narrow strips along arterial roads where the development has been mostly unplanned. With increase in population of Lahore (7.5 times since 1951) and gradual deterioration in infrastructure, rolling stock and capacity of the Transport Department, a vacuum started developin>