Tamale, May 26, GNA - The Metro Mass Transit (MMT) Limited is expected to increase its current operational fleet of 445 buses to 800 by the end of this year to provide transport services to a large number of commuters in the urban and the rural areas.

Mr Cas van Eerden, Managing Director of the MMT announced this at a press briefing in Tamale on Thursday.

He said the MMT would be creating a rural-urban service division with the arrival of 100 TATA buses and 150 DAF commuter buses within the period, which would be expected to serve several communities in the Northern, Upper East and Upper West regions.

The introduction of the metro mass transport into the public transport system was made at the instance of President John Agyekum Kufuor in 2001 to ensure safe, affordable, efficient and reliable transport service within the Metropolitan and Municipal areas. Mr Eerden said under an agreement between the governments of Ghana and the Netherlands, 35 per cent of the value of the buses would be a grant while 65 per cent of the cost would be provided as a loan.

Mr Eerden said since the introduction of the metro mass transport system in 2001, the MMT buses had carried 3.3 million passengers monthly on its routes all over the country while in 2005, it carried more than 40 million passengers, nationwide, over 12 million kilometres. He announced that the MMT had opened new operational areas at Wa in the Upper West Region and Bolgatanga in the Upper East Region while feasibility studies were currently going on to open another at Techiman in the Brong Ahafo Region.

He said the MMT had also introduced free ride for school children from the primary to the JSS level, a university campus service, a special school bus service in Kumasi and Swedru in the Central Region while it had opened a branch at Ho.

The Managing Director said the MMT had grown to be one of the major employers with current staff strength standing at 1,500, adding that the figure was expected to exceed 3,000 by the end of the year when the new buses arrive.

Mr Eerden said the MMT would introduce a bus-rapid transit system to address the problem of heavily congested areas in the capitals adding that the system would be replicated in other relevant areas. The journalists at the press briefing expressed concern about the over-loading of the buses and the general attitude of the conductors some of who they said refused to give the appropriate tickets to passengers.

Mr Eerden appealed to the public to cooperate with the MMT to keep the buses in good shape and urged passengers to insist on their tickets always.

He appealed to the media to help educate the public on the operations of the buses to ensure the success of the mass transport system.