The Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company, AUMTC, says it has finalised plans to purchase additional 100 buses to boost mass transportation in 2015.
Eddie Ajon, AUMTC’s General Manager, Operations, revealed this in Abuja on Friday in an interview.
Mr. Ajon said the company needed to increase its fleet of buses because of the growing population in the nation’s capital city.
“We usually consider the expected passenger flow, the increase that we are likely to have and the number of likely unserviceable buses before we come with a figure of required new buses.
“In 2014, we bought an additional 100 buses and next year we intend to add another 100 and that will increase the total number of buses in our fleet from 391 to 491”, he said.
He added that the company displayed its commitment to safety of passengers by ensuring that its drivers were well trained and monitored.
“We intend to establish our own in-house driving school, where we will employ drivers and ensure that they do not go on the road until they are properly trained for a number of months.
“We also have simulators with which we monitor their conduct on the road and we are constantly weeding the rough ones out of the system”, he said.
Mr. Ajon said that buses parked at the company’s yard for several months unused were usually there for routine maintenance.
“The buses parked here are all road worthy, we have what we call planned maintenance whereby when a vehicle travels for a number of kilometres it has to be brought for routine maintenance.
“As some buses are being taken away, others are coming in for maintenance; they are all road worthy”, he said. (NAN)