Bus lanes a success, claims Maputo City Council

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Bus lanes a success, claims Maputo City Council

10:36 CAT | 04 Feb 2016

Jornal Notícias

Maputo Municipal Council on Tuesday claimed that the first day’s experience of exclusive bus lanes in the city was a success.

In this phase the bus lanes are being used on the routes from the outlying neighbourhood of Zimpeto to the downtown area of Maputo, near the port, and to the terminal at the Natural History Museum. The bus lanes are only in effect during the morning rush hour – from 05.30 to 08.30. Later the scheme will be extended to the late afternoon rush hour – from 15.30 to 19.00.

The municipal councilor for transport and traffic, Joao Matlombe, told a press conference that the success of the operation resulted from the cooperation of the Traffic Police, of the state body responsible for traffic, INATTER, and the “positive involvement” of motorists.

“The balance we draw of the implementation of the bus lanes is highly positive”, said Matlombe, “which means we are pleased with the results of the test, particularly with the management of traffic on EN1 (the main north-south highway) and EN4 (the Maputo-South Africa motorway), since these are the main access roads to the centre of the city”.

“There are some aspects we should improve”, he admitted. “From the point of view of communication, we must strengthen and conclude all the signposting, in order to allow more motorists to be informed, so that they can make decisions about which roads to take”.

With one entire lane dedicated solely to buses and minibuses for several hours every day, private car owners are inevitably the losers and find that their journeys to and from the centre of the city are taking much longer. Matlombe said that the council, in coordination with the traffic police will try to ensure greater fluidity in traffic in the coming days, He thought the situation would improve considerably when the signaling is completed.

The councilor admitted that “with these measures we shall create some conflict, some discomfort for the people who want to drive in private cars, but we think that with the consolidation of this measure, the situation can be minimized. We had to choose between private cars and public transport, and our focus is on public transport”.

The City Council has acquired 50 new buses for the two routes from Zimpeto at a cost of eight million US dollars (though on Tuesday only 20 were running, due to a shortage of drivers). By the end of June, the number of new buses in the city, using the dedicated bus lanes, should rise to 120.

“Our main objective”, Matlombe said, “is to eradicate completely the use of open trucks for passenger transport. With these measures, we hope that will prove possible”. Up until now, there have not been enough buses and minibuses to cater for the demand for transport – and so, although it is technically illegal, pick-up trucks are being used to transport passengers. Conditions in these vehicles are dangerous and overcrowded.

The bus lanes have cut the time taken by a bus to travel in rush hour between Zimpeto and central Maputo. Matlombe hoped this would persuade motorists to leave their cars at home and travel by bus.

“It is important that society sees that these measures will directly benefit the majority of passengers who need public transport every day”, he said. “We appeal for public understanding”.

Not all motorists have accepted the new measures – some evaded police controls and were seen to drive in the bus lanes. Some, interviewed by the independent television station STV, complained bitterly about the additional delays they now face.

Bus passengers, however, were happy. A journey which had taken up to two hours previously now takes less than one and a half hours.

Source: AIM