Felipe Cosmen, Chairman of the BoD of Cyprus Public Transport suggests that more priority measures would make a significant contribution to encouraging more people to use the bus.
In a video interview, Cosmen discusses the biggest challenges facing public transport today and suggests what needs to change to encourage more people to choose the bus over the car.
“When you see the performance of the bus lane on the highway entering Nicosia, you understand the competitiveness of the buses compared with private cars, especially in peak times during the morning when you see all the cars in a traffic jam and our buses and intercity buses flying into Nicosia,” he notes.
“So, giving us more priority measures I'm sure that will convince more people to take the buses,” he continues, adding that CPT has a good relationship with the sector’s stakeholders, especially the Ministry of Transport, “and we are discussing proposals that will impose better facilities for the bus users.”
“I think the digitalization of the bus experience will be something that will increase the bus ridership, especially if we are able to communicate better, if we improve the customer experience,” Cosmen also notes.
Among other things, he also shares his vision of what the sector will look like in the coming years, not ruling out the possibility of autonomous buses.
However, Cosmen also underlines the challenges that remain, including finding enough drivers, something that has seen the sector turn to third-country nationals, and continuing to emphasise punctuality.
The full interview can be seen below:
