Transport woes to be resolved

THE Road Transport Authority (RTA) has a lot to address in preparation for the Apec meeting in 2018, says acting chief executive officer Nelson Terema.
Terema said it included an increase in illegal operation of taxis in the city.
He said taxi operators were charging customers without using the meter.
He said some of these operators had multiple number plates and did not have the licence to provide taxi services in the city.
Terema said all these pointed back to the RTA Act which, once it came into effect, would help the authority clamp down on illegal taxi and bus operations.
He told The National that the new Act would come into place once the old legislations were repealed in the next parliament sitting.
“Illegal operators and unworthy PMVs will be dealt with under this Act,” Terema said.
“The Apec meeting is coming up and we are under pressure to control these illegal operators. All taxi operators in the city do not have meters.
“If they want to charge people, it should be reflected in the taxi meter. Not coming up with their own figures.
“Taxi operators have multiple plates. We are putting our heads down to control this.
“There are thousands of taxi operators and we do not know which ones are genuine.”
He said the best way to deal with this was to corporatise the taxi service.
“For example, one owner with a licence can have 1000 taxies. As the owner, he needs to ensure the taxis are licenced and operate with taxi meters, provide receipts for customers, have GPS etc,” he said.
“Even PMV buses need to be evenly distributed across the city to meet demand. At the moment, there are more Route 14 and Route 17 buses than others. That’s why RTA is partnering with other stakeholders like NCDC and police.
“We are also trying to carry out a survey to determine the demand and the supply especially the total population in the suburbs. Then we will supply buses to cater for those routes.
“I’m sure it’s going to see a lot of improvement especially in the move to improve and modernise public transport in Moresby. We will extend to other centres as well.”