According to the Minister of Transport, in collaboration with provincial governments across the country, the program to expand and strengthen public transport is being implemented.
"We have more buses that are going to start operating, we have 90 articulated buses. After many years of absence, we are going to have articulated buses circulating in Luanda and we think that this is going to have a great impact in the transportation of people and in relieving all the pressure of the lines in public transportation and throughout 2022 we are going to continue to expand our fleet. We are expecting to reach 900 buses in Luanda in 2022," emphasized the minister, who was speaking at the end of the ceremony to hand over 71 buses, acquired in Brazil, to the provincial government of Luanda.
The minister, refusing to advance the amount disbursed by the State for the acquisition of these buses, stressed that the Government is making several investments that do not pass exclusively by the value of the vehicles, highlighting the set of reforms at the regulatory and institutional level underway.
"Today we visited both the operational control center of Tcul [Luanda Public Transport Company] and the operational control center of the provincial office of mobility and transport, which are very important tools to sustain the continuous improvement of this service of collective transport of passengers, also allowing a better control of the operators that are under concession for collective transport," he stressed.
The Minister of Transportation pointed out that soon the integrated ticketing system will be launched, which was launched on an experimental basis in the provinces of Luanda and Huíla and is now being launched in Benguela.
According to the minister, this integrated ticketing system will allow the introduction of the social pass, "very important elements for the improvement of the life condition of the population".
In her turn, the governor of the province of Luanda, Ana Paula de Carvalho, said that these buses will considerably improve urban mobility in the province of Luanda, which in rush hours, there are still big floods in some bus stops.
Ana Paula de Carvalho, who applauded the fact that the buses have conditions for the access of disabled people, said that the need for public transport in the country's capital "is great".
"We have nine municipalities, some in particular that are quite populous, that need more, this distribution will be made according to the needs and the needs that we have will not be completely fulfilled, but it will minimize a lot what is the deficit of public transport to Luanda. The priority municipalities are Viana and Cacuaco, the most populous ones, as well as Luanda, where generally people are employed, but live in other parts of the province", she declared.
Ana Paula de Carvalho pointed out that the current fleet of buses to Luanda is not 100 percent operational, which makes it impossible to respond to all the municipalities.
"Because some have spare parts problems and are paralyzed, as was said, many times almost 50 percent are stopped, but we don't want it to happen like this, with the increase in revenues we also want these operators to invest, in order to have more buses operational," she said, noting that there are buses that have been in operation for nine years, namely the fleet of Sambizanga.
