‘We’re falling behind on public transport’ minister says

Cyprus has fallen behind in public transport and the communications ministry’s strategic goals include improving it with a view to increasing its usage to the benefit of society at large, Communications Minister Marios Demetriades said on Friday.
Speaking after meeting with representatives of the bus companies, during which he presented them with the new public transport scheme, Demetriades said that the aim of the session was to inform the bus companies of the upcoming changes to the bus management system.
“We have presented them with both the immediate changes we want to implement, as well as the long-term ones,” he said. “As a ministry, our goal is to improve the current system’s efficiency, and it is certainly in everyone’s best interest to move forward together, so that we can offer the public the best possible services.”
The Communications minister said that the first step is the creation of a ministry-level steering committee that will undertake to resolve the long-standing problems that have accumulated since the early days of the bus system’s operation.
“The second thing we need to do is create a Transportation Authority board, that will initially be non-executive,” he added. “However, we are ready to incorporate its transformation into an executive board as part of the ministry’s reorganisation study, so that it is empowered with decision-making authority on matters relating to public transportation.”
Demetriades argued that the new structure will allow for greater flexibility and speedier decision-making, which, given the bus companies’ cooperation will improve the sector of public transportation.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.