Transport in Pakistan () is extensive and varied. In the early 21st century new national highways and motorways were built, which improved trade and logistics within the country. Pakistan's rail network was also expanded. Airports and seaports have been built with foreign and domestic funding. Transportation challenges in Pakistan were escalating in 2011, due to poor planning, inadequate governance, and corrupt practices.

History

The history of transport in modern-day Pakistan dates back to the Indus Valley civilization.

The Grand Trunk Road was a major road commissioned by Sher Shah Suri in the 16th century and used during the Suri and Mughal periods. Trees were planted, and mosques and temples built along the road. Caravanserais were built for travelers to spend the night.

Railways and Airways were developed during the British Raj. The first railways in Pakistan were built from 1885.

Road

Total: Paved: (Including of Motorway and of Expressways) Unpaved: Vehicles on road: 4.2 million vehicles 250,000 commercial vehicles (2004 estimate)

Motorways

The construction of motorways began in the early 1990s, with the idea of building a world-class road network and reducing the load on the heavily used national highways throughout the country. The M-2 was the first motorway completed in 1998, linking the cities of Islamabad and Lahore. In the past 5 years, many new motorways have opened up, including the M-1 and M-4. The M4 is operational and connects the cities of Pindi Bhatian (M-2), Faisalabad and Multan via Gojra, Toba Tek Singh, Jhang, Shorkot, Pir Mahal and Khanewal. In 2019 M-3 became operational, which connects Lahore with Multan through Abdul Hakeem and the existing M4 near Multan. It terminates at the M5, which became operational in 2019. The M-5 lead to the Sukkur District of Sindh. There, the M-6 (which is proposed with construction work to begin soon) will start; the M6 will end at Hyderabad, where it will meet the existing M9 motorway to Karachi. In addition to this, the M-8 in Baluchistan province, the longest motorway of Pakistan, is half under construction, half operational. In central Punjab, the Lahore-Sialkot Motorway (M-11) opened on 18 March 2020 and in KPK province, the Hakka-Dera Ismail Khan Motorway (M14) is also under construction. Swat Motorway has been completed and operational up to Chakdarra. Hazara Motorway one more expressway under construction in KPK province.

National Highways

During the 1990s, Pakistan began an ongoing project to rebuild all national highways throughout the country specifically to important financial, cargo and textile centers. The National Highway Authority or NHA is responsible for the maintenance of all national highways in Pakistan. The Makran Coastal Highway follows the coast of Sindh and Balochistan provinces, linking Karachi and Gwadar. Journey time has been reduced to six or seven hours with the construction of the new Coastal Highway. The highway was built as part of an overall plan to improve transport facilities in southern Balochistan. The Karakoram Highway is the highest paved international road in the world. It connects China and Pakistan across the Karakoram mountain range, through the Khunjerab Pass. The Grand Trunk Road (commonly abbreviated to GT Road) is one of South Asia's oldest and longest major roads. For several centuries, it has linked the eastern and western regions of the South Asia, running from Teknaf in Bangladesh, entering West Bengal, India travelling across to north India, into Peshawar in Pakistan. The Silk Road is an extensive interconnected network of trade routes across the Asian continent connecting East, South, and Western Asia with the Mediterranean world, including North Africa and Europe. It passes through the midsection of Pakistan through cities: Peshawar, Taxila and Multan.

Expressways

Provincial Highways Provincial Highways of Pakistan administered Kashmir. Provincial Highways of Balochistan Provincial Highways of Gilgit-Baltistan Provincial Highways of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Provincial Highways of Punjab Provincial Highways of Sindh

Flyovers and underpasses

Many flyovers and underpasses are located in major urban areas of the country to regulate the flow of traffic. The highest number of flyovers and under passes are located in Karachi, followed by Lahore. Other cities having flyovers and underpasses for the regulation of flow of traffic includes Islamabad-Rawalpindi, Peshawar, Gujranwala, Multan, Faisalabad, Hyderabad, Quetta, Sargodha, Bahawalpur, Sukkur, Larkana, Rahim Yar Khan and Sahiwal etc.

Beijing Underpass, Lahore is the longest underpass of Pakistan with a length of about . Muslim Town Flyover, Lahore is the longest flyover of the country with a length of about .

Buses Within cities, buses provide a significant role in commuting a large number of travelers from one city to another. Recently, large CNG buses have been put onto the streets of various cities, primarily Karachi and Lahore, and recently Islamabad,Peshawar as the minivans which were originally used were beginning to cause large traffic problems. Private yellow and white minivans have services throughout cities in Pakistan and get commuters from one point of the city to the other at a low cost. Since 2000, however, the government has taken a comprehensive initiative to modernize the existing bus fleets and minimally impact the environment. This public-private enterprise gradually introduced 8,000 CNG buses throughout the country, and 800 in Karachi.

Intercity

Bus service in urban areas and between cities is well-established with services run by both public and private sectors.

International International bus services to various countries are also well-established in Pakistan:

Islamabad-Dushanbe, Tajikistan (proposed) Peshawar-Kabul, Afghanistan Peshawar-Jalalabad, Afghanistan Gwadar-Zahidan, Iran Karachi-Quetta-Zahidan-Tehran, Iran (proposed) Quetta-Mashad, Iran Quetta-Zahidan, Iran Islamabad-Kashghar, China (proposed) Gilgit-Kashgar see Karakoram Highway

Taxis Another very common form of transport, seen mainly at hotels and airports, are yellow taxis. Drivers normally charge according to a meter, but fares can be negotiated if there is no meter. There are also numerous privately run services that use cars and minibuses of various types throughout Pakistan. The Radio Cab was introduced, allowing people to phone a toll-free number to connect with the closest taxi stand, in Islamabad, Rawalpindi, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore. with services for Hyderabad and Faisalabad to follow.

An app-based local cab service, iCAB, was introduced in August 2017, claiming to be the first cab service of the country with a centralized platform for all kinds of road transportation services, launched from the capital territory and to be expanded into thirteen cities.

In 2025, the Government of Punjab launched the Green E-Taxi Scheme to provide electric vehicles for taxi drivers, intended to reduce emissions and modernize urban transport.

Cars Over the years, the number of cars on Pakistani roads has tripled. Traffic jams are common in major cities across Pakistan. Luxury SUVs and cars are owned by well-off people.

Future cars Students and teachers from the National University of Science and Technology in 2010 developed Pakistan's first ever hybrid gasoline car, the Devrim II, based on the Turkish Devrim. Before that, students from Naval College Karachi and Ghulam Ishaq Khan Institute had made a less effective hybrid car; the group, the Pak-Wheelers, had succeeded in 2011 in developing a car with a fuel efficiency of 450 kilometres per liter, but were trying to improve it to more than 700 by using hybrid technology.Objectives of Pak-Wheelers

Auto rickshaws

Auto rickshaws are a popular method of travelling in cities and are found in almost every city and town in Pakistan. The fare is usually negotiable before commencing a journey; however, due to the level of pollution contributed by auto-rickshaws, the government has recently begun banning older ones and replacing them with CNG auto rickshaws, which tend to be less noisy, form less pollutants and are much bigger and more comfortable. The Punjab government decided in 2005 to replace two-stroke three-wheelers with CNG-fitted four-stroke rickshaws in Lahore, Multan, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Gujranwala. Three manufacturers were ordered to produce 60,000 four-stroke vehicles, but they reportedly supplied 2,000 to the government which are now plying on city roads. Similar ordinances are now being considered in other provinces of Pakistan.

A new form of transport in Pakistan is the Qing-Qi (pronounced "ching-chee"), which is a cross between a motorcycle and auto-rickshaw. It runs just like a motorcycle but has three wheels instead of two and can carry a much heavier load. It is an urban transport vehicle and is used mostly for short distances.

Motorcycling and ride-hailing Motorcycling is considered to be the most quickest way of getting to areas that four-wheeled vehicles cannot reach, and is also used in cities. Not all riders wear helmets. Companies such as Bykea, Uber, and Careem offer ride-hailing services with bikes or motorcycles in several cities.

In 2019 two more private ride-sharing services, Pakistani Airlift and Egyptian SWVL, were introduced in Karachi.

Metro

Train

The Orange Line Metro Train is an automated rapid transit system in Lahore."Good news on track: Lahore to get Pakistan’s first metro train", Express Tribune, Lahore, 23 March 2014. Retrieved on 20 October 2014. The Orange line is the first of the three proposed rail lines proposed for the Lahore Metro. The line spans with elevated and underground and have a cost of 251.06 billion Rupees ($1.6 billion). The line consists of 26 subway stations and is designed to carry over 250,000 passengers daily.

Bus

Lahore Metrobus is a bus rapid transit service operating in the city of Lahore. The Metrobus network's first phase was opened in February, 2013. Rawalpindi-Islamabad Metrobus is an bus rapid transit system operating in the Islamabad Rawalpindi metropolitan area. The Metrobus network's first phase was opened on June 4, 2015, and stretches 22 kilometres between Pak Secretariat, in Islamabad, and Saddar in Rawalpindi. The system uses e-ticketing and an Intelligent Transportation System and is managed by the Punjab Mass Transit Authority. Multan Metrobus is a bus rapid transit (BRT) system in Multan. Construction on the line began in May 2015, while operations commenced on 24 January 2017. Peshawar Bus Rapid Transit (Peshawar BRT) is a bus rapid transit system by the Peshawar Development Authority (PDA) in Peshawar, capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. The construction of the project was started in October 2017 and became operational on 13 August 2020. Green Line Metrobus is the first phase of Karachi Metrobus that is operational in Karachi. The Government of Pakistan is financing the majority of the project. Construction of the Green Line began on February 26, 2016, and became operational on 25 December 2021. Faisalabad shuttle train service and Faisalabad Metrobus are the proposed rapid transit projects in the city of Faisalabad. These projects are the part of a mega-project of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor.

Tram A tramway service was started in 1884 in Karachi, but was closed in 1975. Sindh Government was planning in 2019 to restart the tramway services in the city with the collaboration of Austrian experts. In October 2019, a project for the construction of a tram service in Lahore was signed by the Punjab Government, to be launched under public-private partnership in a joint venture of European and Chinese companies and the Punjab transport department.

Monorail In 2020 he Government of Pakistan was proposing to start a monorail system in the federal capital Islamabad.

Rail

Domestic