No cash fares being tested by Metro as some diablos continue rip offs
Panama’s new Metro Bus system is closer to taking another leap into 21st Century transportation service, while some Diablo Rojo owners are still ripping off the system.
This week the long promised new payment system will receive its first test according to Ivan Posada, manager of operating company My Bus. Passengers will enter a closed after they have paid for the ticket on a space station, said Posada on Telemetro Report .
Thesystem will eliminate paying fares inside the bus and speed up boarding times.
This test will be led by the Transit Authority and the Land Transport and Tube Company, in charge of collection. If it works it is expected to come into full operation in July, with prepaid cards, and a similar system will be used for the Metro subway if completed in time for it’s scheduled 2014 opening.
Meanwhile the transit authority is still straining to recruit enough drivers to operate the buses, which will expand to all city routes by July eliminating the noise and air polluting diablos rojos.
The Transport Authority is monitoring out of city routes where some diablos are operating illegally after having been recompensed $35,000 for their licenses.
