By Nyein Nyein
Yangon Bus Service (YBS) vehicles being operated in the Yangon Region will be standardized, and non-standard vehicles will no longer be permitted to operate in the region, said U Phyo Min Thein, the Yangon Region Chief Minister.
YBS, formerly All Private Bus Lines Control Committee, will celebrate its third anniversary on 16 January.
“We gave permits to YBS for three years and will review the company on 16 January, based on complaints that some of its branches are running old buses and earning unfair profits. We will not allow YBS to operate non-standard vehicles. Therefore, we need to establish a standard for the vehicles. If the vehicles meet this standard, they can still be run in Yangon. If they do not meet the standard, the vehicles will have to operate in other regions,” remarked U Phyo Min Thein.
“Some of the YBS branches are not operating within the approved system. We have to resolve this issue ourselves as we have already given them three years. If the YBS branches cannot provide good service to commuters, we must replace them. So we are trying to adopt the best system. I don’t want YBS branch owners to assume they can do whatever they want,” he added.
The Yangon Region Transport Authority will issue marking tables for YBS services on 16 January, identifying strengths and weaknesses at the company.
“For the last two years, we praised the good services provided by YBS branches, but we didn’t take action against the bad services. This year, we will praise the good services and discuss the bad ones. However, we won’t take action against them until next year as we want to provide better services to passengers and hope to adopt a better system,” he added.
To improve transport facilities in Yangon, YBS was launched on 16 January 2017, during the new government’s term. To date, over 100 bus lines are in operation, with 4,500 buses taking some 135 routes, in addition to the Airport Shuttle and city transit routes. The number of daily commuters is estimated at 1.8 million. (Translated by Hay Mar)
