Significant organizational and operational changes in the system of public passenger transport - buses - are advised by the consultants of the Ministry of Transport, for the organization of the tender for the award of contracts for the next decade.
According to the information of the newspaper "Phileleftheros", among various scenarios, so far the scenario is preferred as instead of six contracts - one per province and one for long distance - that exist now, the new system to be organized on the basis of three contracts: A joint for the provinces of Nicosia, Famagusta and Larnaca, one common for the provinces of Limassol and Paphos and one for intercity buses.
According to the information of "F", this consolidation is in favor of the idea studied for a single contract to be awarded to one provider, as well as the existing system of six providers. It is estimated that the termination of the three contracts will bring a series of economies of scale and mutual facilities - for example buses that will operate in Nicosia in the winter, will be able to be transported to free Famagusta without procedures in the summer when traffic increases significantly. Also, the administrative cost will be significantly reduced, as well as the cost of purchasing parts, etc.
It should be noted that during the initial assignments of 2010, the first such gathering took place, after dozens of independent community and district busmen were united in the provincial organizations under a common hat and each had the rights for a village or area. It is now proposed to move the organization of the public transport system to the next stage, of the proposed three contracts that will cover the whole of free Cyprus.
Also, as everything shows, the position is favored that the contractors will be assigned the student routes, as is the case today, since without the student routes the cost of the "barren" lines, which are essentially all the routes outside the city center, ie in smaller suburbs and all rural routes will have very high costs.
The Greek advisers of the Ministry of Transport, who are aware of the conditions, since in the last decade they have undertaken a series of studies on behalf of the Ministry (including the one for the tram system), are at an advanced stage to reach the basic parameters of the terms. The tenders for the new assignments will be announced -probably within 2019- from the summer of 2020. Already, they have surveyed the existing providers, but also collected data on the operation of the system.
Intense interest from foreigners to take over after 2020
At the same time, the interest shown by new foreign agents, such as Spaniards and Greeks, is evident in the new contracts. In the case of Spanish interest - this is a businessman who has undertaken public passenger transport in various parts of the EU - there was also interest in the assignments made in 2010.
As for the Greek businessmen in the sector, according to information from "F", these are well-known names of the last decades in the public transport by buses in areas of Greece.
Already in both cases that became known to "F", foreign stakeholders have come into contact with factors that have a strong displacement in the public transport of Cyprus, but also with the Ministry of Transport requesting information, while closely monitoring developments. It is expected that there will be partnerships, since for example there are many elements such as buses, staff, etc. for which any interested party will be interested in claiming the new contracts.
There are also depreciation issues, for example the Ministry of Transport, after a delay of a few years, only at the end of 2017 and beginning of 2018 will the telematics system operate in existing companies and buses, at a cost of over € 5 million for the state that undertook nationwide their installation.
It is obvious that there will be no depreciation in 17-18 months until the end of the contracts. Indirectly but clearly about the interest of large foreign companies has been mentioned in Parliament last week and with his public statements and the Minister of Transport Marios Dimitriadis.