The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE government is looking to undertake a pilot project for a unified bus system with the specifics of a business plan for the New Providence public transport system now being dissected by the relevant stakeholders.

Giving a general overview yesterday to Tribune Business on developments towards a unified busing system, Glenys Hanna Martin, the Minister of Transport and Aviation, said: “We had a business plan done some time ago by an accounting firm and the specifics of it are being dissected by the committee which comprises the public transport sector and government agencies. In the middle of that there are two things underway: one is that we are trying to enter into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the industry which would put in place standards, look at routes and deal with all the issues an concerns that we would want to address.”

The proposed unification of the public bus system is part of the New Providence Road Improvement Programme (NPRIP), funded by the Inter­American Development Bank (IDB), which also involved the upgrading of New Providence’s road network.

Mrs Hanna Martin said that the government has secured an agreement in principle with the IDB for the financing of a six- to 12-month unified busing system pilot project. “We have gotten the approval in principle from the IDB, which is which is the original financier of this process, to finance a pilot project between six to 12 months which would select an ideal route in terms of volume of traffic and we would create a pilot project for that route.

“It would emulate all the things that a new busing system would have, all of the features that we would expect to see. We would mimic those in the pilot project as a way of seeing how it would unfold,” she said.

“Also the controller is introducing new routes as we speak to service areas that are not currently in service because a lot of people have to walk very far to get to a bus stop.”

A 2005 unification plan had called for the creation of a single bus company, in which franchise holders and owner/operators will be given shares.

The plan also spoke to raising equity to capitalise the unified company through an initial public offering (IPO) of shares and recommended that the government be given a 20 to 30 per cent equity stake “at no cost” to it and the taxpayer. The 790 franchises issued in 2005 were then valued at a total $12.3 million.