Naru rides bus to work

MOROBE Governor Kelly Naru is taking rides in PMV buses to work to gauge the integrity of services in the Lae city.
He said he was doing that as part of his job as chairman of the Morobe Land Transport Board and chief executive of the province so he could see the services being provided and experience what people were going through daily.
After yesterday’s ride, Naru said: “Lae’s public transport system needs a wake-up call.
“Our poor road conditions have contributed to overcrowding and a poor service but now that the roads are getting national government funding and concrete attention, I expect the public transport system to respond positively as well.”
“We cannot be an industrial city if our public transport system is not up to standard.
“Workers must get to work on time. The public must be delivered to their destinations on time, with minimum hassle and nil harassment at bus stops.”
Naru said in his previous bus ride, he was the collector or boskru, the person responsible for loading the bus and collecting the fares. He said: “I don’t know how much I collected but the driver had a big smile on his face and shook my hand many times over. I paid my bus fare.
“It is true to say the service is very poor and due to population increase, there is congestion of people at bus stops and traffic jams.
“Our roads are now being upgraded to concrete roads so I expect our transportation system to improve one hundred per cent for the public motor vehicles and the owners,” he said.
“There should be no excuse for PMV owners to complain of bad roads and potholes after our roads are completely overhauled. Our workers should be delivered to their workplaces on time for industry to function on time.
“I don’t want to see old broken down PMVs on the roads anymore with exhaust belching, lights not working, seats falling out and hear the owners blame potholed roads for the wear and tear of their vehicles.”
Naru said one of the major concerns at bus stops is bag snatching, hold-ups of females and attacks on innocent civilians.