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[joe]

Fare-free travel under new public transport plan

Trams, better buses to lure commuters away from cars
By Philippos Stylianou

AN ambitious public transport plan just announced by the government promises comfortable buses every 10-15 minutes running 16 hours a day, and possibly a tram service for Nicosia and Limassol in an attempt to lure commuters away from their cars.
The new transport plan, when in place, will be offered free of charge to the public for 1-2 years in order for them to get to know it, the Head of the Project Management Team, Michalis Lambrinos, told The Cyprus Weekly.
"All the issues are open, we know what the alternatives are and we are open to dialogue in order to make this a success," he added.
Cyprus trails sadly behind all other EU countries in the use of public transport with only 2% of the population bothering to take a bus; most of this meagre percentage is made up of foreign workers and schoolchildren.
Successive governments have deplorably failed to address the issue, resulting in the island being swamped by private cars – 520,000 is the latest figure – at a chillingly high cost of human lives lost in road accidents, damage to the environment from exhaust fumes and a soaring fuel import bill.
Announcing the plan at a recent press conference in Nicosia, competent Communications and Works Minister Haris Thrassou said that the government aims to spend £275 over the next 10 years, in order to increase the use of public transport to 10% by 2015. The EU will chip in 50m euros from its structural funds, which will be spent first, the minister said.
Starting this year, implementation measures involve the drawing up of public transport master plans for each town and district, preparation of contract terms for the management of public transport, specifications for new buses and big new junction in Nicosia, Limassol, Paphos and Paralimni.
Priority
The actual system will feature bus lanes on a large scale with bus priority at traffic lights, new sheltered bus-stops equipped with electronic information boards, automatic ticket sales and the construction of central bus stations.
The system will be completed with park-and-ride facilities outside towns, where commuters from the regions would leave their cars and catch a bus into town, coupled with restricted access of cars to the city centre.
There will be two such park-and-ride facilities for Nicosia, one at the GSP stadium, for motorists coming from the south and south-east and one at the Makarios Stadium, for the western and southwestern approaches to the capital.
In order for the system to be able to function smoothly, the urban road network would have to be completed and pavements constructed everywhere.
The island-wide introduction of school buses, currently on a trial basis, is relied upon both to enhance passenger capacity and to create awareness of public transport in the long run. It will cost a total of £10m for the school-bus project.
Asked if the school bus will be compulsory, Lambrinos said that the aim of the new transport system was to avoid anything compulsory.
He noted that a "means of mass communication" was also envisaged as a possibility for Nicosia and perhaps Limassol, most probably in the form of a tram service, but said many considerations would have to be weighed before making a final decision.
Ownership issue
One of the issues that remain open is the ownership of the future public transport. Lambrinos, who is Public Works Department Senior Executive Engineer, said that the government favoured private ownership in accordance with its free competition philosophy.
He noted that preliminary contacts with some of the existing bus companies had shown they were interested in having a part to play in the new system. This, he added, would have to be examined from the legal point of view, including the EU regime, which prevented state subsidy.
Other forms of ownership, although remote, could not be ruled out, such as the government’s Road Transport Department forming a private company together with the Municipalities concerned, or a public utility company even.
Lambrinos noted that the ownership question would have to be addressed when the time came to purchase the new buses. This would start at the end of 2007 and the total cost is estimated at £86 m.
In order to facilitate the implementation of the public transport programme, the government has allocated more than £1m for the purchase of services from the private sector.
All-night service
"What is of crucial importance is to specify as accurately as possible the services that would be offered by the public transport system," Lambrinos said.
He noted that the system would cover as much of the wider urban areas as possible, with buses running timetables in all of the municipalities and in the case of Nicosia in Tseri, Yeri and Lakatamia, possibly Deftera as well.
At the same time, rural bus routes would be improved as well, encouraging transport companies to pool together so as to be able to cover long and short itineraries.
The bus service could start as early as 5am–6am and finish at 9pm-10pm, with night buses running till later and possibly an all-night service as well. Waiting time at the bus-stop would be about 15 minutes, reduced to 10 minutes in peak hours.
A Steering Committee under the Communications and Works Permanent Secretary will monitor the implementation of the programme scheduled to last from 2007 through to 2013. The President of the Municipalities Union will also participate in the Committee.


THE PROJECTS
THE projects envisaged for the completion of the primary urban road network include the following:
In Nicosia a new junction at Archangelos Avenue (cost £9m), the Strovolos Northern and Southern Tangential (cost £50m) and the University primary road network (cost £10m).
In Limassol a link road between the Limassol Port and Limassol-Paphos highway (cost £14m) and the construction of the northern urban by-pass (cost £6m)
In Paphos, improvement on Demokratias Avenue and Tombs of the Kings Avenue (total cost £20.5m) and the airport link road (cost £14m).
In Paralimni, construction of the Paralimini-Dherynia road (cost £3.5m) and Kennedy Avenue (cost £11m).

Article from the Cyprus Weekly

[devil]

Trams need electricity. Where is that coming from?

[Bill]

Fare-free travel under new public transport plan

Trams, better buses to lure commuters away from cars
By Philippos Stylianou

Communications and Works Minister Haris Thrassou said that the government aims to spend £275 over the next 10 years, in order to increase the use of public transport to 10% by 2015.

Sorry Joe -- I don't normally pick on others posts but I found this to be so near the truth ( and funny ) I couldn't resist it.

I guess you have copied and pasted so it's a error by the author not you.

Must say it sounds about right though for Cyprus.

Bill

[mountainman]

Forget it
People like convenience i.e.
walk 10 feet from house, get into car
drive to and park 10 feet from destination
do what you want to do and repeat procedure in reverse.

all of the above MUST be available 24 hours a day.

if anyone can provide a free transport service that can achieve this then they have my vote

[devil]

Of course, the best way of reducing pollution from cars is not to use them! The first and foremost way is to use public transport. Unfortunately, the public transport system in Cyprus is almost non-existent and is totally unco-ordinated. It is an urgent requirement that this be addressed so that anyone in any locality can reliably reach any other locality in, say, half-a-day with no more than two changes. This could be co-ordinated with mail delivery. The example of the postal buses in some European countries shows that this can be done with radiating services from hubs which are interconnected by high-speed coaches (or rail in some other countries). The crux of the system is that there are always postal buses waiting for the arrival of each coach, having delivered passengers from the outlying areas and waiting to take new passengers back there. This would require very radical planning and infrastructure. The important point is that it must be made convenient. It could be done.

The idea of a new rail system for the backbone should not be discounted, either. It would be possible to interconnect Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca with 15 - 25 minute travelling times from city-centre to city-centre, with a spur to Paphos from Limassol. This would require vision, but it would cost little more than adding a third lane in each direction to the motorways. Container freight could also be carried from Limassol port to the other cities, relieving the motorways of their polluting juggernauts.

Of course, as I mentioned earlier, walking the kids to school, rather than using the car, as well as light local shopping would be helpful, especially as cars are at their most polluting on short trips. Planning the heavy shopping, such as to the large supermarkets, to go only once every two weeks, requires some forethought. For the daily perishables, use the nearest shop; even if a salad there costs 20 cents when the large shop charges only 15 cents, the difference is equivalent to only a little over a kilometre in a car in one direction, just for the fuel.

A heavy carbon tax on motor fuels is necessary. This would bring the price of diesel to over that of lead-free petrol, but it is the only way to discourage people from buying cars with high consumptions and encourage those with low consumptions. An initial price of CYP 1.00/litre, rising to CYP 1.50 in five years may be sufficiently impressive. If the car tax on small cars were reduced to a nominal CYP 10.00 per year, rising to CYP 25.00 for <2 litre cars, then to CYP 200.00 for <3 litre vehicles and CYP 500.00 for >3 litres, the message should strike home without disadvantaging the poorer users with small cars.

From here.