NCDC unveils buses for SP games

Caption: Governor Parkop getting on one of the brand new buses.

By MATTHEW VARI

Sunday, July 13, 2014 (Sunday Chronicle, PNG)

With the 2015 South Pacific Games well within sight with just under a year to go before the Pacific region’s biggest sporting event in Port Moresby- the National Capital District Commission has unveiled 10 new buses last week to handle one of the vital aspects of the event which is logistics.

The proactive approach by the city authority will see 10 additional buses added to its current fleet of 10, which will see an additional 700 seats for the travelling public to and from the games venues for all 10, of the 70 seater buses.

All 10 Ashok Leyland busses were manufactured and shipped in from India at the cost of K190,000 each, for a total of close to K2 million spent.

NCD Governor Powes Parkop when launching the buses said that the buses would go into service right away as means to promote the games and also to service the transportation needs of city residents.

He however stressed that it was vital that they could generate some income from the service as currently they were fully subsidising the free service to the city’s commuters.

“We have to generate some income to maintain this vital service as the current service provided by our private operators is not adequate to meet the need of the traveling public,” Parkop said.

“Currently we only put the current 10 buses on the streets during peak hours in the morning and the afternoon rush hours, as it is not viable to keep them on the streets for the whole day as we are not charging any fees.”

He called on the Land Transport Board to give the commission a permit to begin a ticketing system to sustain and keep the busses out beyond the allocated times to operate.

“In one month the existing 10 buses ferry 82,329 passengers free of charge- the city is growing that is why we are being proactive and we are not trying put private PMV operators out of business,” Parkop explained.

“The truth is that they cannot cope with a growing city such as ours and the major difference for us is that we finish the routes designated to us.”

The governor also announced that all travel between sporting venues during the games will be free of charge for city residents.