Call for permanent local bus service

The use of $250,000 of Panama City funds to rent 50 buses for two weeks to help solve the transport crisis  is  simply politicking says an opposition  legislator.

Panamenista  Party deputy, Jose Isabel Blandon, said on Thursday, April 11, that the contract of 50 buses sponsored by Mayor Roxana Mendez is  not a solution to the problem of transport in the capital.

Blandon, who has his own ambitions to become mayor and who was once front man for deposed mayor Bosco Vallarino,  says the Municipality should provide the service of domestic routes in the districts permanently, as the Constitution allows.

"Instead of using $ 250,000 in 10 days, what to do is invest that money  in a local company to provide the service permanently and charge for theservice," he said on Fox report.

The mayor’s stopgap buses  will provide free transport  to and from  areas like Deciembre 24 where many workers face two to three hour waits for Metro buses. Approval of the  move has already been announced in the official  government gazette.