Today the cities
are residence to half of the world’s population, and in 2030, 60% of the
population will live in a city (UNFPA , 2004). The urban areas have an
increasing importance in our society as they are continually growing, along
with all the issues related to them.
Papua
New Guinea (PNG), the host to one of the world’s largest Liquefied Natural Gas
(LNG) project cannot easily escape from urban issues as LNG and other urban
centered developments are partly cause of the issues faced in the urban centers
today.
The continuous increase
in Port Moresby’s population is putting the urban public transport system in
brink of collapsing. This study was conducted in Port Moresby and the
researcher applied qualitative research techniques to extract data, analyses
and present the data. The purpose of the study was to identify the problems
faced in the urban public transport system and how it can be addressed using
the right policy.
The study has
brought to light some of the problems that are being faced in the public
transport system today. It was identified that majority of the population
living in the city depend largely on public transport. Given influx of the
population in the cities due to city, the number of public buses operating in
the cities cannot meet the high demand for the vital service, to travel from
point A to point B. As a result, the bus fare fluctuates at the discretion of
the PMV owners.
Apparently, the
older men, women, sick and disable flocks are left to struggle for bus seats. Between,
there are no other alternatives for the public transports users. This is
equally important to our tourism industry. Urban centers needs to have different
forms of public transports so that the people can decide and choose one that is
comfortable and worth their money.
The study
concluded that a single entity needs to be created by the government and
through the organization, appropriate policies and strategies be formulated and
implemented to address the problems identified. The following are some of the strategies
that need to be included in the policy to improve the public transport systems
in Port Moresby: (1) integrate various modes of transports; (2) introduce Smart Card System for user confidence
and convenient; (3)
provide transit services to make public transport more attractive to users; (4)
paint the suburb buses for quick recognition; (5) design good-quality public
transport infrastructure.
Having said
that, city provides the first hand impression to the outside world. Appropriate
regulations needs to be introduced to improve the image of the city and provide
improved and efficient public transport services.
Key Words: Urban public transport system, congestions,
policy
