With the number of Yangon city-dwellers increasing by leaps and bounds, transportation became a problem for Yangon city commuters. It has been a big problem for many years. Due to poor management of the authorities concerned, the bus lines in Yangon had been a nuisance for commuters in the city. They had to always travel in anxiety due to careless and undisciplined drivers and rude bus-conductors.
The problem was left to the new government as an evil legacy which could harm the image of the new government if it could not solve it in a speedy manner. Yet, the Yangon Region Cabinet managed to deal with it under the well intentioned plans by launching YBS (Yangon Bus Service) and forming YRTA (Yangon Region Transport Authority).
As usual, the new system had to suffer a great deal of criticism and blame from those who do not wish to accept change.
Most people welcome the new plan, accepting that a project would take time to be implemented successfully. Now achievements have been made to a considerable extent. We need no longer face bad-mannered bus conductors, who were eager to push new passengers onto the bus. However, as soon as the passengers reached their destination, these very same rude bus conductors would hastily push the passengers off the bus, most of the time giving very little time for the poor passengers to get off the bus.
Thus they had to suffer these indignities day in and day out. The passengers had to travel in fear and anxiety. Now at last, passengers could breathe a sigh of relief knowing that their days of fear and anxiety were now over once and for all. People began to abide by rules to systematically get on and off buses, before they knew it. However, the people are still facing one problem. They are facing difficulties when they pay the bus fare. As there are no bus conductors on the bus, passengers who do not have a 200-kyat-note find it difficult to pay. Thus it was very kind of the authorities concerned to make arrangements for solving this problem.
It has been learnt that the Yangon Region Cabinet has invited private companies to submit tenders for the introduction of a bus-fare payment system through the use of cards. According to Dr Maung Aung, Secretary of the Yangon Region Transport Authority, tender proposals for the first phase will be accepted starting from August 25 and the deadline has been set as September 16. As it is, the current problem will be completely over in the near future. What a big relief it would be for the passengers.
Holding old and torn currency notes is unhygienic from the health point of view. And, it will be beneficial for the State, YRTA, bus owners, car drivers and all the commuters. Malpractices will disappear automatically. As the government would gain more revenue, it would be able to implement more beneficial projects for the people provided that the card payment system can be introduced in all places. To sum it up, we all accept the new initiative wholeheartedly.
Source: The Global New Light of Myanmar
