Anbessa City Bus Enterprise is to receive a total of 50 new buses in October 2013. These have been purchased from the Metal & Engineering Corporation (MetEC) at the cost of 200 million Br.
The Enterprise ordered the articulated, 18-metre long buses with trailers in July 2013, from the MetEC – a state owned military industrial complex established two years ago. It is entrusted with several government projects worth billions of Birr.
The MetEC has also assembled close to 500 Bishoftu buses for Anbessa, previously.
The purchase of additional buses was made effective following the announcement of the Addis Abeba City Administration’s plans to increase the ratio of bus access. The target, announced a month ago, is to increase the ratio from 1:12,000 to 1:6,000 by 2015. This was announced when the new Mayor of the city, Deriba Kuma, came into power.
Currently, 45 buses are completed and ready for collection. Five others are in the finishing process – testing and commissioning – Desta Alemayehu, Bus Productions head with the Bishoftu Automotive Industry – one of the companies under the MetEC – told Fortune.
Bishoftu Automotive Industry assembles five different types of buses. These are – the city bus, with 24 seats; the intercity bus, with 32 seats; the cross country bus, with 60 seats; the rigid bus and the articulated bus.
Currently with a total of 1,230 buses, the Enterprise fills only 40pc of the demand, according to data available at the Enterprise. The Enterprise started operations in Addis Abeba as the first public transport service in 1943. Until a privately owned public transport provider-Alliance began operations with 12 buses, two months ago, Anbessa was the sole bus service within the city.
“In the current state we couldn’t satisfy the demand, so now we need even more additional buses,” said Bekele Getahun, communication process owner of the Enterprise.
Under the current scenario, the enterprise buses provide services for 600,000 people daily.
The newly emerging buses will have electronic displays showing the bus’s routes and destinations, as well as the use of Geographical Positioning Systems (GPS) to be tracked and identified, if they are to encounter problems.
Although the Enterprise owns a little more than 1,000 buses currently, only 870 are operational. Most of the defective buses are in a garage, according to Bekele.
Among the dysfunctional buses, those 500 buses assembled by the MetEC make up the largest share, according to a technical expert at the Enterprise who preferred anonymity.
Dealing with the spare parts issue is becoming difficult, Bekele agrees. “We are dealing with the MetEC to avoid similar deficits in the newly assembled buses.”
“The technology we own is at its infancy level. Yet, we are improving, using the feedback we receive as inputs,” Desta argued.
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