GOING NOWHERE
Buses are back – back on strike!
PUBLIC transport resumed with the lifting of health restrictions this week — and immediately went on strike.
Hundreds of coaches, buses and “dolmuş” minibuses descended on Lefkoşa on Monday and Thursday, bringing large parts of the capital to a standstill.
The Cyprus Turkish Public Transport Operators’ Union (Kar-İş) is asking for major financial support for its members — but their protest prompted the transport ministry to speak of a major overhaul of the entire North Cyprus transport system.
Kar-İş spokesman Zekai Gece said: “Until the necessary regulations, exemptions in tax payments, financial support and contributions to our sector is decided upon, we are not going to budge.”
Mr Gece said they were “determined not to restart public transport services until concrete action is taken by the Government . . . they are killing us,” he said.
“Our members have been unable to work for months now ever since the lockdown. We are asking for our provident fund payments and social security contributions to be met by the state until September 1 at least.
“We ask for Kar-İş workers to be exempt from income taxes.We ask for fuel to be sold to our operators without upfront payment, and for appropriate loans to be made available.”
He said no new ‘T’ permits, public vehicle registrations, should be allowed.
But Transport minister, Tolga Atakan, addressing MPs over the horns and screams of protestors outside parliament, said: “Nothing can ever be the same in the sector. Everything needs to be changed from top to bottom.
“Public transport sector has been most affected by the pandemic and we cannot contemplate how long the effects of this will last. Our focal point should be not compensating for the losses, but how to overcome the losses with the least harm.
“The present structure is not sustainable and needs to be changed,” he said.
REFORM
Speaking to Cyprus Today, the transport ministry undersecretary, Kemal Bağzıbağlı, said: “The current system prevents any form of investment and quality because of inefficient use of resources. The ministry has worked on a comprehensive scheme to reform the sector, to have ‘regional consortiums’ where all small firms that are currently competing with each other in a small market come together. We want to start introducing this reform within 2020.”
A Public Works and Transport ministerial spokesman said Mr Atakan had a “vision” he has previously stated to bring about a “standard public transport system.”
He said the minister was working towards “bus stops with electronic information, a single payment travel card based system to eliminate unregistered payments and a long term vision of standardising buses to make them safe and secure . . . providing services from Lefke to the Karpaz and offering affordable public transport.”
“The problem is that at present, the public transport structure is such that it is privately run, with dozens of different bus companies who are able to do what they want, how they want. Some are reliable, some are less reliable. This system is not sustainable. There is no organisation in public transport in the country,” he said.
Mr Atakan has previously complained of seeing “tourists” trying to “hitch hike” because of the lack of public transport.
He said they were working on pilot projects for Lefkoşa and Girne areas in cooperation with local municipalities. Mr Atakan said: “From this hour onwards, it is unavoidable to bring the bus companies under one roof. The sector will not survive if it does not come together in unity.
“We are discussing what we can do in our Council of Ministers meetings and will share our decisions with the representatives of the sector,” he said.