Cyprus-Forum.com

[Nikitas]

Oranos,


You should see the relatives faces when I state that I do not own a car. IT goes from shock, to disbelief and then to pity. They figure "poor bastard has no money".

Question is, if there was a luxury bust service, with air conditioning, plush seats, with stereo ear phones for every seat etc, you think that there would be commuters who would take it? I mean a kind of intra island luxury commute. Maybe thats what is missing. the comfort and luxury. I was not there long enough to see how poor people get about, are there inter city bus lines and services to "remote" villages, like those that are all of 20 miles away from the nearest city?

Back in the old days, 50s and 60s there were plenty of services, KEM and Lefkaritis did the inter city stuff and every village had at least one or two buses. And people walked a LOT. And they were healthier and fitter. This car to everywhere started back then in the early 60s, and it is a dead cert that if some medical people do a study there will be a correlation between health and the car, I would bet more connection than with smoking.

[nhowarth]

There's a shortage of affordable housing - yes.

Cheers,

It all depends on what you call affordable, my price bracket is up to £145K CYP, there is an abundance of properties up to that price and I don't mean appartments/town houses/complexes.
What I have seen is appartment blocks going up everywhere, with the developers chasing a reducing customer base with the typical Cypriot lack of logic.

By affordable housing, I meant housing for the less affluent members of the Cypriot community - in residential areas. Not ghettos of cheaply-built appartments for foreign tourists.

Cheers,

[Oneness]

You should see the relatives faces when I state that I do not own a car. IT goes from shock, to disbelief and then to pity. They figure "poor bastard has no money".

Question is, if there was a luxury bust service, with air conditioning, plush seats, with stereo ear phones for every seat etc, you think that there would be commuters who would take it? I mean a kind of intra island luxury commute. Maybe thats what is missing. the comfort and luxury. I was not there long enough to see how poor people get about, are there inter city bus lines and services to "remote" villages, like those that are all of 20 miles away from the nearest city?

It might work Nikitas. But it would need huge financial resources firstly to provide a quality service and then to do a big marketing campaign.

Why take a relatively limited bus service when cars can get you everywhere? And in Cyprus, image is everything. I have heard its not unusual for "ordinary" people borrowing new Mercedes just to turn up at meetings.

IMO, the absence of decent public transport infrastructure is the main reason for Cypriots thinking they need a car like they need oxygen. As Cypriots became wealthier, instead of the government injecting funds into public transportation, they kept taxes low and cars became an obsessive status symbol. Now the old buses are associated mostly with students and foreign househelps. Cyprus should look at Switzerland as a model. It has one of the best rail networks in the world. Cyprus could start with connections between Nicosia, Limassol and Larnaca. (During Colonial days, the British had a railway connection for cargo between Nicosia and Larnaca). It will need a big investment firstly to make a quality and service and secondly on marketing to alter people misconceptions. But who wants to pay more in taxes? EU please.....