28 July
THE following event occurs several months ago. Daw Aye Myint had been at a bus stop for more than 45 minutes but wasn’t able to board a bus yet. Al-though four or five buses that she wanted to board had arrived, the buses stopped at some distance from where she was at the long bus stop and she wasn’t unable to board any of it.
She was at a bus stop on Sule Pagoda Road between Sule Roundabout and a pedestrian bridge on the junction with Anaw-rahta Road.
Yangon Bus Service (YBS) 3, 28, 29, 87, 36, 78, 61 and 12 serve this bus stop. Buses from this bus stop connect to either Yangon eastern districts or northern dis-tricts. As buses of various routes came into the bus stop the bus she want to board stopped along the long bus stop either at the front, middle or at the end de-pending upon other buses arriv-ing around the same time. Daw Aye Myint was walking back and forth along the bus stop whenever the bus she wants to board cameand was unable to board the first four or five buses that came by due to shifting location where the buses stop. This was the daily problem she encounter and as her age closes in to pension age, she was unable to catch a bus that stops a bit far from where she was and only made it at a fortunate moment when a bus she want to board stops right near where she was. She’d been praying to be over with this misery for long. After close to two and a half year of YBS operation, her prayers were being answered.
Different entry lanes to a bus stop where multiple bus numbers stop
Yangon Region Government in cooperation and support of JICA (Japan International Co-operation Agency) was striving toward development of bus trans-port system and to reduce traffic congestion in Yangon.
As part of this cooperation and support work a pilot project for buses to stop systematically at designated portion of a bus stop was being tried out at the bus stopwhere Daw Aye Myint was facing difficulties daily.
Specific bus entry lanes and stops at a part of a bus stop desig-nated for each bus number allow passengers to wait at an allocat-ed place for the bus he/she want to board. This eliminates Daw Aye Myint tedious daily affair of running along the long bus stop trying to board a bus. Even at peak rush hour the new system seems to be working out without much of a problem or inconven-ience to both the buses and the passengers.
This system was also being tested in several bus stops where multiple bus lines stop. Especial-ly in bus stops where there are about 350 buses stopping at a bus stop in an hour. Thingangyun Sanpya Bus Stop where 16 bus lines stop and a bus stop in front of Gamone Pwint Department Store on Kaba Aye Pagod Road in Bahan Township where 14 bus lines stop are such bus stops where this system was being tested out. Here too the system seems to be working out well for the buses and passengers with a further expectation of easing to a certain extent the traffic jam that usually occurs there.
Bus stop with queue lines
Another development is bus stop with passenger queue lines. Queue lines gave equal oppor-tunity for passengers young or old to board a bus without the requirement to run or rush to-ward a bus. This system was be-ing tried out successfully at YBS 56 bus stop in Thakin Mya Park.
As this system can be easily adopted in bus stops where only two to three bus lines stop, it can be implemented in many bus stops in Yangon. This will certainly improves and reduces the hassle of getting onto a bus faced by young and old alike.
Rights of way for buses at exit and entry of bus stop
Designating rights of way for buses at exit and entry of bus stops tried out on Pyay Road Dadaphyu Bus Stop hopes to ease traffic congestion and road blockage at this bus stop. The car lane went around the bus stop allowing a bus to enter the bus stop and then rejoin the lane upon exit from the bus stop.
Discipline of drivers and pas-sengers and enforcement necessary
Despite these developments or improvement and many more to come, the bus drivers, passen-gers and other car drivers need to be disciplined. Passengers must not rush out onto the road forcing the bus to stop at the middle of the road. The buses also need to stop at designated place by the road side bus stop rather than the second lane or middle of the road so that the passengers can board or alight safely while the traffic is not blocked. Right of way must be provided to buses at the entries and exits of bus stops. If discipline was not maintained, Despite these developments or improvement and many more to come, the bus drivers, passen-gers and other car drivers need to be disciplined. Passengers must not rush out onto the road forcing the bus to stop at the middle of the road. The buses also need to stop at designated place by the road side bus stop rather than the second lane or middle of the road so that the passengers can board or alight safely while the traffic is not blocked. Right of way must be provided to buses at the entries and exits of bus stops. If discipline was not maintained,
Modern buses and modern bus stops
The modern buses used by YBS were a great improvement for people taking public trans-port buses. As not all lines were covered by YBS, there were still some lines run by old buses but this will be eventually phased out. Once the bus fare payment system can be migrated to smart card system, it will finally elimi-nate the problem of small change requirement of the passengers making it more convenient for the public.
An upgrade in a public transport system wouldn’t be completed simply by putting in new buses and modifying bus routes. Modification or modern-ization of bus stops were also required and this was started with a French-Myanmar joint venture winning an exclusive 20-year contract to sell advertis-ing spaces at modern bus stops constructed by the joint venture company. FMIDecaux — a joint venture between First Myanmar Investment Company (FMI) and JCDecaux, a worldwide outdoor advertising company based in France – signed a contract with Yangon City Development Com-mittee in January 2018 to build 500 bus stops. These new bus stops feature an advertising dis-plays and city information panels. Many were now built providing much needed conveniences to bus passengers and also showing the benefit of a well planned pub-lic private partnership. – GNLM Reference: “ YBS bus stops that had become systematic”by Tin Win Lay (Kyimyindine)— Myan-ma Alin 17 July 2019 issue
