Compensation deal for owners heralds in new metro bus service

Transportistas, owners of Panama’s notorious diablos rojos buses,  will get $25,000 compensation  per bus and drivers will get $5,000 as the country prepares for it’s new Metro bus service.

The $ 25,000 figure was originally agreed between the carriers and the previous government administration, headed by Martin Torrijos. According to previous reports when the compensation was first mooted, some multiple bus owners of poorly serviced vehicles ready for the scrap heap, will receive hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The new government has followed suit and additionally, drivers will be receive $ 5,000 compensation. Sometimes the drivers are also the owners.
Owners “Nevera" (fridge)buses, equipped with air conditioning that provide service in the north and south corridors, will get $75,000 and $ 35,000 will be paid out for "diablos rojos" on the same routes.
The agreement also involves the payment of $ 35,000 for coaster (mini) buses according to Dionel Broce, leader of the National Transportation Board (Canatra).
Ricardo Jorge Fabrega, director of the Transit Authority (ATTT), was evasive when talking about numbers says La Prensa. In a telephone conversation he claimed he could not remember the compensation figures.
He explained that the compensation process takes in not only the type of vehicle, but the income it generated for carriers .A "fridge” bus on the corridors, represents more revenue to a carrier that a" red devil "he said.
The new Metro bus system is set to begin December in the Southern Corridor and in January 2011 in the Northern Corridor.
This follows the signing of the contract between the Government and the Mass Transit Panama consortium led by the Colombian company Fanalca, which will design, supply and operate the system.
The process of transition from the system will start next week with the re-educating and changing the mentality of drivers, says Fabrega.It will no longer be a system of stops for people “but an operational plan of frequencies.”