The Abinader administration has chosen Mochotran, a public transport association, for the monopoly of bus transport on the Winston Churchill Avenue. The government is using the mechanism of public trusts to reach agreements with the transport companies. No tenders are carried out to decide who is the bus provider on main city avenues.
The new Mochotran buses route replace the government-owned Omsa buses that had been charging RD$15 for long stretches along the Winston Churchill Avenue. The modern buses will now charge RD$35 for the fares once the service begins on Sunday, 13 February 2022. Reports are that the buses will be making less stops than the Omsa buses.
Radhames Gonzalez, director of Omsa, said the 40-45 buses will replace 360 concho cars that serve the route together with the Omsa buses.
A first route allocation under the trust modality (Mobility and Transportation Trust) was the Núñez de Cáceres bus route that was assigned to the Conatra transport company. The fares on that avenue are now RD$35. The route was criticized by users who complain there are few buses on the routes and this has led to long waits. The fares are also considerably higher, without the option of people taking the conchos as these are now impeded to work on the routes. Several of the concho drivers were recruited to drive the buses.
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Hoy
El Nuevo Diario
9 February 2022