It is very shocking to find a city bus stuck in a shortcut because it was trying to beat the city traffic congestion
Cities like London, Berlin, Stockholm, and Hong Kong which have some of the best bus service in the world also have the best infrastructure. Unlike taxi operations that are largely flexible, bus services require elaborate and extensive infrastructure. Usually, they require bus only lanes and parking spots. One of the most frustrating things in the world is to be stuck in a jam on a city link bus.
Kampala city has very poor transport infrastructure with very few and narrow roads. The 500 buses that Pioneer Easy Bus claims it is importing might sound like many but they are ferrying millions and operation in a crowded place with very poor infrastructure.
The bus operators need support and subsidies. Apart from transporting people they are helping decongest the city and improve the pace of business.
Pioneer Easy Bus will fail if it does not make a profit. It will not make a profit if it is not innovative. It will not make money if it is not supported by the government. It will not make money if the inefficiencies of past operators, including tycoon Gordon wavamunno’s City Link bus Service are not analysed.
Kampalans have come to expect public transport, including buses and communal taxis, to operate like they are a private limo service. They expect to be picked from their doorstep and dropped off at their office doorstep, school, shopping mall or market. Nobody wants to walk even for a few metres. That needs to end and Pioneer easy bus should not join the bandwagon. Instead, it should see itself as a feeder service. For exampla, there is no point of a bus going into the busy Wandegeya junction. Instead, it should turn at the Gayaza or Mulago Roundabouts and people walk or jump on boda-boda to Wandegeya which is just five minutes away walking but one hour in the jam!
The Pioneer Easy Bus routes need to be very well thought out to be practical and avoid either being pointlessly circuitous or unpredictable. This is where the Northern Bypass comes in. This convenient route has been sadly ignored by planners. A bus plying the Northern Bypass could be perfect for destinations like Ntinda, Makerere University, Mulago Hospital and as a feeder for long distance travelers on both the western and eastern routes who could get connections at Busega, Bwaise/Kawempe, and Bweyogerere respectively.
The Pioneer Easy Bus parking points should be next or near points where commuters can easily connect to other destination. In our case, a traveler going to Mbarara from Ntinda, should be able to jump on a Pioneer Easy Bus town service to a spot near the park for upcountry buses.
Another innovation would be in the mode of payment. It should be designed to encourage flexibility and rewards for loyalty. For example, discounts and other incentives, like priority boarding, could be offered to customers who purchase long-term boarding passes. This could ensure predictable incomes for operators.
Other considerations should be made for schools children, the elderly, and handicapped. Special seats and boarding facilities could be reserved for such purposes.
Usually of course, the focus is on whether the service is 24 hours, the buses are frequent, and are affordable.
A point usually missed, is that the bus experience should be enjoyable. In a frantic situation like ours it logical and easy to look at a bus as a moving box in which people are crammed and shuttled from point to point. However, the planners must be aware that buses a favourite means for tourists to tour cities and their suburbs. We must, therefore, ensure that they are clean, safe, not crowded, and have nice big observation windows. Buses should stick to their routes and timetable. It is shocking whenever, you find a bus locked in a jam on a panya route.
Of course, it would be great to have buses only lanes but that is pipe dream. So, in keeping with the possible, let the planners think around the notoriously congested areas like the Bwaise Kawempe round about and the Bweyogerere-Kireka section. The bus operators could work with the authorities to remove taxi operations from junctions and busy intersections. It is obvious that taxis loading and offloading passengers along these roads and spots cause most of the congestions.
Finally, we still need the rail system.
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written by Michael Kors, February 17, 2012
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written by Michael Kors Outlet, February 17, 2012
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written by tiffany jewelry, March 31, 2012
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Basically, most brands are offering the same product lines; they only compete with regards to quality and design.