This Tuesday, the articulated buses promised for a long time to users of public passenger transport in the Greater Maputo region entered into operation. The first two buses left, in the late afternoon, from downtown Maputo City to the municipality of Boane, with a single fare of 25 Meticais. After several failed promises, articulated buses finally entered circulation in the Greater Maputo area. The Baixa-Boane route saw, this Monday, its maiden voyage.”This is the first route, with the Baixa-Boane route. It is intended that the routes can cover the demand during rush hours, in the late afternoon and in the early hours of the day. This is a service that covers six routes. It will be extended to the other routes and, within two days, the Baixa-Matola Gare route could start”, said Armando Bembele, from the Metropolitan Transport Agency. of Maputo (AMT). However, current road conditions and intense traffic at peak hours raise doubts about the success of the articulated vehicles. The AMT minimizes the criticism and says that there are conditions.”You have to understand that the bus is articulated. The only thing different is its length. So, under the same conditions that other buses circulate, these will also circulate. Gradually, we will see what conditions we can create to guarantee some fluidity, but I believe that, with these buses circulating, some will leave their vehicles and travel in this one, which is cheap and safe”, explained Armando Bembele. Each articulated vehicle has the capacity to transport 150 passengers per trip, and access is via electronic ticketing. Users hope that the introduction of articulated vehicles will bring improvements to public transport. This is an investment of more than around 20 million rand. The articulated operator, a private South African transport company, says that the business will be sustainable, despite mobility constraints. “We have vehicles with high capacity, which can transport approximately 140 passengers seated, around 20 standing and which can carry 142 trips per day, which means approximately 78 thousand passengers per day, if we include standing passengers. If we only count those seated, it could be below that”, explained Patric Malambela, executive director of “Bus Cor Maputo e Metro”. The articulated buses had been promised by the minister of transport and communications and crossed the Ressano Garcia border in December last year, heading to the Greater Maputo metropolitan area, where they are expected to reduce the inefficiency of the public passenger transport system. Source :The country
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