A daily struggle for commuters in the capital

By ISAAC LIRI

EVERY weekday, residents of Gerehu in the National Capital District wake up to a certain public struggle.
Thousands who depend on the public motor vehicle (PMV) service to go to work or school are seen rushing to catch buses in order to reach their respective destinations on time.
It is another typical working day at the Gerehu bus stop in Moresby North-West and I am up early and standing amongst the crowd.
The time is 6.30am on my smart phone when I join the public at the bus stop on a busy Monday morning and the bus stop is already packed with pedestrians.
As we stand waiting for empty PMVs to come by, we are disappointed to notice that many of these buses are calling out “Waigani! Waigani!”
PMV buses on Routes 9 and 7 were not following their complete route. Route 9 is supposed to be from Gerehu to 4-Mile (Boroko) and Route 7 is supposed to terminate at Gordon from Gerehu; Waigani is only halfway on their usual complete routes.
It’s already a norm to many who benefit from the PMV service in Port Moresby that PMV operators tend to design their own routes to earn a little more so from Gerehu they go to Waigani charging passengers K1 and then from Waigani they charge another K1 to go to either Gordon or 4-Mile.
These blatant violations of regulations that come with their assigned routes seem to go unchecked by the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission (ICCC) and the Transport Department.
But at the end of the day, we the suffering public or commuters are to blame as we all turn a blind eye to this.
Some PMV operators mentioned that they just wanted to avoid the traffic jams in the morning therefore they devise their own route but do you the travelling public think that is a relevant excuse?
It is understood that all these commuters standing at the Gerehu bus stop desire a quality public transport system.
Those that have been abroad have seen some high standards in public transportation and wonder if there are ways to see improvements in PNG, especially in cities like Port Moresby when we narrow down the issue to the scope of urban public trans-portation.
On some days, police intervene and instruct PMV operators to complete their normal routes but on many days, it’s just a typical struggle.
On that particular Monday, April 23, I could feel the burden on the many that stood at the bus stop.
Some were frustrated and were vocal against the PMV operators while others just silently stood in the crowd waiting.
Some wondered why the NCDC buses were not operating; if they did they would have helped like on some other days.
Why is nothing done to see that public transportation is improved? Or is something being done that the people are not aware of? Questions after questions are going through the minds of the many who were waiting at the Gerehu bus stop until 8.30am.
Many companies or government agencies expect their employees to arrive on time, which is 8am but given this scenario, PMVs are now the excuse or reason for them turning up late.
From that very moment I decided to write this observatory piece on this particular struggle in the hope that we can make a difference in the future in our public transportation.