GAS-POWERED BUSES TAKE TO THE ROADS

Maputo’s publicly-owned bus company, TPM, on Monday put the first 32 buses powered by compressed natural gas onto the roads of the Mozambican capital.50 of these buses, imported from India, arrived at Maputo port last week. The other 18 are still being cleared through customs.In all, 150 of the gas-powered buses have been ordered, and are expected to reduce significantly waiting times at the TPM terminals and bus stops and terminals in Maputo and the neighbouring city of Matola.TPM chairperson Silvestre Constantino, cited in Tuesday’s issue of the Maputo daily “Noticias”, said the buses would be placed on the busiest routes, including those to the districts of Boane and Marracuene. But as more buses arrive, so TPM plans to open new routes.The buses are a major strengthening of the TPM fleet which, prior to their arrival, consisted of only 85 vehicles. But Constantino warned that, to cope with the full demand for public transport in the greater Maputo metropolitan area, TPM would need 500 buses.At the ceremony presenting the new buses, Jose das Neves, general manager of Autogas, the company that owns the compressed natural gas terminals, said his company can refuel 50 buses in five hours, and so there is no reason to believe that the buses will ever run out of gas.The natural gas is a Mozambican resource, pumped by gas pipeline from the Temane gas processing plant in Inhambane province. The use of natural gas instead of imported liquid fuels represents a considerable reduction in running costs for TPM.The 150 buses cost 565 million meticais (about 19.5 million US dollars), provided by the government’s Transport and Communication Fund (FTC). FTC representative Luis Mhula guaranteed that the remaining 100 buses will arrive in the country by the end of August.Mhula explained that the 565 million meticais also covers spare parts to maintain the buses, two tow trucks, and four other vehicles that will provide technical assistance.In theory, the money is a loan - but can TPM ever repay it? Not from the fares at their current level, since TPM charges a flat rate fare of just five meticais. Constantino said that fares would have to rise to 14 meticais to pay off the loan. It is not yet clear that the government will authorise such an increase, although in August the current system of transport subsidies is supposed to come to en end, with the introduction of bus passes for workers, students and the elderly.The government will subsidise those passes – while everybody else is supposed to pay the full market rate for their fares.