FOR THE past three years, nine communities living in the rural outskirts of Paphos have been fighting for a daily bus service to link them to the main city, but their demands have so far been ignored by the state, which claims that there is not enough demand to merit a bus per day.
Local people in the areas of Amargetis, Eledio, Ayia Marina Kelokedaron, Statos, Pentalia, Nata, Kilinia, Galataria and Axilou have been forced either to move to more central locations, or pay unaffordable amounts for fuel and drive themselves.
According to the Community Leader of Amargetis, George Kaiser, the situation has had a serious impact on the local community.
“This situation has been going on for three years now. Buses run through Amargetis only twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. We have made many requests for buses to run through the area on a daily basis, but so far they have been ignored.
“The transport situation is having a negative impact on our community. Elderly people have often been forced to move out of the area and live closer to their children because they are unable to get to their hospital appointments by themselves. A taxi to the hospital costs about £20, which is a huge amount for a pensioner to have to pay several times a week. Younger couples are also forced to move closer to kindergartens and schools because they simply cannot afford to drive the 20-30km several times a day.”
Kaiser also disagreed with the excuse that there were not enough people in the surrounding areas to merit a daily bus service.
“There are about 1,000 people living in the surrounding areas, so this is hardly an excuse. Every day, 18 students have to get to school, and there is no bus service for them. I believe that if there is a request for a service, a new bus timetable should be drawn up to accommodate the local people. There will be a meeting with the Ministry of Communication on Friday September 2, where this issue will be discussed. I hope that a new timetable will be drawn up,” Kaiser added.
Nicos Phinikarides, Assistant Chief Transport Control Officer at the Department of Transport, responded by saying that he would be attending the scheduled meeting himself.
“The meeting will take place in Paphos at 11am on Friday. I will hear the community leaders’ requests and listen to an outline of the problems that the communities are experiencing. We will then see what we can do about these problems. At the moment, the community leaders are requesting that buses run through the area four times a week, on Sundays, Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays. I agree that the area is in need of extra buses. After the meeting on Friday we will decide on a course of action,” Phinikarides added.
