[ad_1]
The Joint Coordinating Committee (JCC) of the “Establishing an Environmentally Friendly Transportation System Project” held its fourth meeting at the JICA Palau Office on June 19, 2024. The meeting, held from 13:30 to 15:30 Palau time, brought together key stakeholders from Palau and Japan to review progress and discuss future plans to improve public transportation in Palau.
Minister of Human Resources, Culture, Tourism and Development Ngiraibelas Tmetuchl delivered opening remarks and expressed gratitude, followed by JICA Palau Chief Representative Aoki Tsunenori, who stressed the importance of the project and the hope for continued improvement. JICA Expert Team (JET) Project Manager Seki Yosui showed a promotional video of the daytime bus operations that will start on April 23, 2024, and discussed the current project status.
Palau made suggestions on operational details and adjustments, suggesting coordinating bus schedules with peak hours, improving night market bus routes to avoid passenger confusion, and working with hotels to better explain schedules. They also highlighted the high demand for night market buses and their economic benefits.
The JICA expert group presented the draft master plan for an environmentally friendly transportation system. Discussions included implementing a trunk bus master plan, increasing the number of buses based on demand, and exploring electric vehicles where charging infrastructure is available. An official from JICA headquarters participated in the discussion online, stressing that the safety of bus drivers must be ensured before expanding services in the second phase of the pilot project.
Currently, in order to expand the service level of the first phase of the pilot project, Palau has announced that it has successfully hired another daytime bus driver to further expand the service level. It has also proposed adding holiday bus routes to major destinations such as churches and inter-island routes from Koror Island to support the travel of people on other islands.
The focus of community engagement was suggested through student board game campaigns, sticker campaigns to promote bus use, and public relations through group text messaging for faster communication.
The meeting ended on a positive note, with participants optimistic about the progress and potential of the bus service. Minister Temetuher stressed the project’s ability to change lifestyles, make bus use more common and attract support from Congress. Participants stressed the economic benefits and congestion reduction brought by public transport, advocating to set an example and encourage bus use.
related
[ad_2]
Source link
