Experts call for measures to revive transport sector

AMMAN – Transport experts on Thursday said that improving the sector will reflect positively on the economy and business in the Kingdom, especially with the current epidemiological situation in Jordan.

The experts also agreed that enhancing the public and private transportation system will result in improving the livelihood of Jordanians and the production of the industrial sector in the Kingdom.

Economist Husam Ayesh said that currently, the government should adopt the highest health procedures to safeguard people’s lives, as many are refraining from using public transportation.

“The transportation sector is one of the means that could contribute to spreading the virus, and the government needs to adopt and enforce the highest safety procedures to protect people such as safe distancing,” Ayesh told The Jordan Times.

This, Ayesh maintained, will “boost the transport sector and ensure that people would reach their work in a safe manner”.

“If the government resorts to a long lockdown then “it is clear that they have to do it to control the spread of the virus”, Ayesh said.

The government can establish a social fund to support the owners of transportation companies to cover their losses.

“It is time for the government to think in a different manner to support this project because it is clear that COVID-19 will remain for a while and we need to deal with this pandemic,” Ayesh added.

President of the Transport Services and Taxi Owners Union Ahmad Abu Haidar said the sector is “deteriorating”, especially that the government has imposed the weekend lockdown.

“Most taxi and public sector drivers are already suffering, and they can barely make enough money to meet their needs,” Abu Haidar told The Jordan Times.

The association president added that he is hopeful that the “government would support this sector by, for example, to exempt drivers from licensing fees for this year and waive the traffic tickets so that public and private transportation drivers can stand on their feet again”.

“We also hope that the government would reconsider their decision of the two-day lockdown because the weekend is the best time for public and private transportation drivers to earn their income,” Abu Haidar said.

Head of the Transport Operations Directorate at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) Khaled Abu Olaim had told The Jordan Times in a recent interview that there are 28,000 public transport vehicles in the Kingdom, many of which are under electronic supervision conducted through an operation room.

The supervision applies to the 135 vehicles of the Amman Bus, which have their own cameras, controlled and monitored at the company's operational room to follow up on passengers' commitment, he said, adding that smart ride-hailing application vehicles also have a tracking system and they fill the form on trip information, which also helps supervise them, according to Olaim.