ASTANA – Twenty-six busses in Kazakhstan’s capital changed their itinerary and more than 200 new passenger vehicles were put into operation on the existing city routes, according to astana.gov.kz, the city administration’s official website.
Astana’s new Iveco bus fleet. Photo: Astana Akimat.
The actions, taken to reduce the congestion of public transport, are part of the modernisation of the city’s transportation system. The new vehicles are equipped with air conditioning and video surveillance, with the updates completed by the capital’s passenger transport and automobile roads department.
Of the city’s 52 routes, 26 were changed, including seven routes divided into two parts.
“The new scheme of public transport will contribute to the improvement of the quality of passenger service and transport control service will be introduced,” stated the akimat’s report.
The concept of renovating the route network was developed with the participation of international consultants. The experts analysed the current system and passenger flow and conducted a survey involving more than 35,000 people. The new network is expected to satisfy the needs of 85 percent of the city population.
As a result of the study, the modernisation process was divided into three stages, reported bnews.kz. The first phase is the introduction of the new, more efficient routes implemented by the passenger transport and automobile roads department. Deputy head Abdykhamit Tamabayev said the department is completing comprehensive measures to improve the situation in areas such as reorganisation of the route network, a rolling stock update, training of drivers and check-takers, implementation of an electronic fare collection system, electronic dispatch system, electronic information system and transport control service.
Although 214 new busses were introduced July 11, the city still has a transportation shortage of 958 vehicles, said Beibit Yeszhanov, head of the passenger transport department of Astana LRT. Plans are underway to put 358 new busses into operation this year, 200-250 in 2016 and 350 in 2017.
By the end of this year, 55 new closed heated bus stops will be installed in country’s capital, according to information released July 13 by the city akimat. All the bus stops will be equipped with video surveillance cameras connected to the city’s common system and other sensors and air exchange inside the bus shelters will be conducted by natural ventilation.
