Plans to boost public transport

NATIONAL Capital District Governor Powes Parkop says there are plans and proposals ready to improve the public transport system in Port Moresby which are awaiting the approval of the Road Transport Authority.
“They will either approve it or not,” he said.
Parkop said they had tried to improve the public transport system by bringing in 70- seater buses but were not given the licence to operate in the city.
“That’s why we operate for free and at peak hours only because the (transport) department did not give us approval to run the 70-seater buses as public transport,” he said.
“Otherwise, the buses would be operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Parkop said they were working on a new proposal to be submitted to the Road Transport Authority.
The Government privatised the Public Transport System in the 1980s. Although public motor vehicles have contributed to the city’s transport system, there has been calls for the public transport system to be improved after the many bus strikes, over-charging of fares and unreliable services.