Even as it labours through what is perhaps the worst financial crisis of its history, competitors of the Transport Board believe they have ideas that could save the public transport provider and the country tens of millions.
In fact, interim chairman of the Association of Private Transport Operators (APTO), Morris Lee, yesterday outlined a two-pronged approach he believes would ease the woes of commuters, while the state-owned board struggles to find money to pay staff weekly.
In the short term, Lee told the SUNDAY SUN, operators of route taxis and minibuses are willing to enter serious dialogue with the Government that would allow the Transport Board to concentrate resources on its exclusive routes, while ZR vans and minibuses handle the routes saturated with PSVs.
Lee, a veteran of the sector, explained that this approach did not have to be long term, but put in place for the benefit of suffering commuters. He noted that the private operators ferry about 65 to 70 per cent of all commuter traffic, using 525 vehicles, including 225 minibuses, while the Transport Board moves the remainder with about 300 buses.
