Survey to make public transport reliable

MORE THAN 2000 Public Motor Vehicles (PMV) buses are currently providing mobility in Port Moresby for most of the urban population.
Public transport providers are individual operators who operate and comply with government regulations, policies, guidelines and others including licensing, road safety, PMV routes and fare setting.
UN Women Programme Specialist and Manager of Public Transport Project, Bessie Maruia said of the 25 designated PMV routes, only 18 were operational while buses serving the other seven routes had ceased operations due to low profitability caused by excessive operating costs and underpayment of fares by passengers.
She said UN Women has conducted a survey on the routes and the survey would be completed by this month.
The outcome of the survey would help RTA to plan and improve the public transport system in Port Moresby.
“Without existing baseline data on user’s transport demand, existing transport services and infrastructure including transport institutions, it is almost impossible to implement an efficient, affordable, safe and sustainable public transport system in Port Moresby.
“The newly established Road Traffic Authority (RTA) has been tasked to take charge of public transport system and ensure the design and implementation of an efficient, effective, reliable, safe and affordable urban public transport for women, man, girls, and boys including marginalised groups,” she said.
Port Moresby is home to about 318,128 people, and growing at a pace of 2 per cent per annum as per 2011 Census report.
There are 57,741 households within the 9 listed suburbs.
Enforcement by transport authorities to ensure compliance continues to be a major challenge for the government, therefore operators over charge PMV fares, do not follow designated routes, have very poor customer service and are often very unreliable.