Andrew Solomon Napuat

Minister of Internal Affairs, Andrew Napuat, has instructed the Public Land Transport Authority (PLTA) to stop issuing service bus permits in Port Vila and Efate as of June 1.

Minister Napuat revealed this in a recent press conference.

The minister said he has instructed the Public Land Transport Authority (PLTA) to stop issuing of permits, commencing at the end of this month.

According to recent statistics provided by Minister Napuat, Efate and Port Vila have a total of 1, 400 service buses, 261 Common Transports and 76 taxis in total.

The figures show an updated total number of public service transports recorded until May 2018.

He labelled the very high number of public transport operators, particularly the service buses as “excessive”.

He stressed that given the high number of buses, bus owners and drivers fail to make profit and it is affecting transport owners. They then tend to sought to solutions such as calling for an increase in bus fares.

Napuat also declared that PLTA will conduct consultations towards the implementation of a proposed decision he announced earlier this year to ban civil servants, police and teachers from owning and operating the public transport businesses.

He invites the public to share their views on the proposed initiative.

source:Vanuatu daily post