195 Metro Mass Transport buses grounded

Mr Mike Hammah, Minister of Transport, on Tuesday said 195 Metro Mass Transit Limited (MMT) buses were not in operation due to mechanical and electrical faults, unavailability of spare parts and engine problems.He said 13 of these buses were already "cannibalised to service other fleet and disposed of as scraps, while 101 have been earmarked to be cannibalised to service other operational fleet." The Minister was responding to a question in Parliament on the number of Metro Mass buses imported from china and the number now operational.He said to date, a total of 400 "Yaxing buses comprising 312 single deckers and 88 double deckers had been procured for the MMT at a cost of 18.6 million dollars."Mr Hammah said currently there were 91 buses in operation while mechanical and electrical failures, especially poor engine, clutch problems with poor after sales service, had resulted in several Yaxing buses being grounded for long periods with the attendant loss of revenue."Madam Speaker, a direct consequence of.urbanisation and the use of many private and mini buses (tro tro) is causing congestion in our cities with high fuel consumption and consequent high cost of travel per passenger and kilometre."The Minister said the successful expansion and operation of MMT with a planned bus replacement programme, would help reduce congestion in "our cities, lower cost of travel for the mass of people and therefore have positive social and economic impact".
Source:GNA