Been a while since i have blogged about public transportation in jordan, and since i've blogged in general due to the fact that i was pretty busy lately, as well as out of the country.
Intercity public transportation has been in a mess lately across jordan, and i am not claiming it was perfect, but at least it was doing the job.
During this summer, things seemed to be going towards a mess in the sector due to several facts. and some of the solutions were causing problems in other parts of the sector, and so on.
Probably this mess was quite an effect on the public due to the fact that it happened on major lines connecting the capital Amman with the major jordanian cities around it. along with the general usual mess that occurred after petrol prices went high again, leaving the PTRC un-handling the case properly like before and causing a mess among the sector's operators and users.
Users of Major lines connecting the capital Amman to Irbid, Salt and Zarqa have been suffering lately. It all started when Irbid-Amman's big buses started a strike by the end of last june along with a strike for the Amman-Irbid white cabs asking for their fairs to be increased after the raise in gasoline prices.
The Big Buses drivers and owners had this strike for the 4th or 5th time, asking again & again to have their operations combined with the small coaster buses, which are, despite being individually owned, operating under a single-owned phantom line operator called "3aroos el Shamal Transport", a company that doesn't own a single bus! More about the coaster/big bus battle can be found here. The strike continued till several days before ramadan, after no solution was found by the PTRC.
On the other hand, 2 other Major lines, Zarqa-UJ-Sweileh and Salt-Raghadan, which are also licensed to big companies that, probably own buses, but sub-contract the operation to individuals driving them, without the needs to care about their maintenance and quality of operation [details available in this response of mine], have been facing trouble after most of their buses are not even willing to start and run any more. this forced the PTRC to find substitutes for operation on those 2 hot lines that work almost 24/7. and from where could those substitutes be but from other lines! on Salt-Raghadan line for example substitutes were some big Irbid-Amman buses (yup, those on strike, but only with a Wasta!), and big Jerash-Amman buses leaving the small town of jerash almost disconnected from the capital with only 2 small buses operating on this line!
While on the other hand, on the Zarqa line, the substitute were buses from the CMTC, which still has some of its lines in the capital Amman badly operated!
Anyway, the transportation between zarqa and Amman was enhanced, or tried to be, by a 60 years old 20km/h running train, operating during ramadan twice a day, by a trip from Zarqa towards Amman at 7.30 AM in the morning and a trip back at 3.30 PM. a nice idea after the death of the Amman-Zarqa light railway project, esp that as declared that the train carts are rehabilitated and air conditioned even. but unfortunately, the announcements of this service didnt exceed some short press releases in the newspapers, resulting in only 6 passengers at its 1st day of operation.
Showing posts with label public transportation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label public transportation. Show all posts
30 August, 2009
24 May, 2009
Taxi Al-Momayaz .. not so Momayaz!?
Been a while since i did some public transportation blogging , ha!? Don't worry .. still here, monitoring :)
In the last several months or so, we had witnessed some Kuwaiti investments in the public transportation sector, that were unfortunately rapidly hit by the global economic crisis as others. 1st was the Amman-Zarqa light railway project , that until now, not just only didn't get to see light, but is still in a “tendering mode!” , that is after the 1st investor (Pakistani – Chinese – Jordanian alliance of a constructor contractor , steel manufacturer and real estate office respectively ) was rejected after it exceeded the time limit of assuring the needed money twice. The 2nd company taking over this BOT project was a strong Kuwaiti – Spanish alliance that applied their strength in rising up the projects expenses, but also failed twice in assuring the needed money, and thus the project was withdrawn from it by the government, resulting in having a case raised up in an international court, where the government is currently paying this alliance back!
Anyway, On the other hand, the Kuwaitis came up taking a license last year for Al-Momayaz Taxi, to be a quality taxi service with high standards, availability, on demand service, and quality. Especially after the PTRC's failure and what was to be called “The beige taxi” few years back, which happened to be nothing more or less than the yellow ones, and are still roaming our streets just like the yellow cabs.
So, the crisis came, and the modifications started in Al-Momayaz tender! 1st from the time of starting (which was a couple of months late), to the number of cars to start with (the actual start was less than 50 cabs), the type of cars (From 200 Toyota Camrys and 200 Mercedes E200 to 300 Toyota Corollas and 100 Mercedes E200), until the changes in tariffs and making the Mercedes tariff start from 1 JD, though gas prices were much higher and time of contracting!
Anyway, Me personally, as a seeker for quality, didnt have any problem getting into a silver colored Corolla, just like other Corolla cabs roaming around the Jordanian streets and paying extra money just for the sake of quality, quality to be represented with several added value services starting from polite and well trained drivers, with no “sorry that's not my way” excuses, to GPS tracking for the cars, requesting cabs by phone (also assisted by the GPS tracking system to let operators choose the closest car to your location), specified tariffs regardless of the time or destination, and even electronic payment.
When things come to the ground, you can obviously find that those from Al-Momayaz Taxi care about the image, the cars are always clean and tidy from inside and outside as well as their drivers, who are well selected and are professional as well as polite ones. Momayaz Taxi are also making sure to have stationaries at several luxurious hotels and commercial centers around town. But , is that all that is needed by such a service !?
Well, when it comes to the riding experience, Al-Momayaz taxi has new kinds of taxi counters (still not as supposed to be and not up to European standards), but good enough to be clear and give you a receipt with your trip details. And you'd pay just as the counter says, with no extra amounts of money for certain areas like yellow cabs would sometimes do when you tell them you want to go to a place they don't prefer. And al-momayaz drivers accept to stop and wait for you to drop by a shop or something during the trip without any problems, much not like the yellow cab drivers. But when it comes to late night hours (after midnight mainly), several experiences showed up that we still do have the after midnight problem of not sticking to the counter even in the Al-Momayaz Taxi! Either by having the driver telling you short and to the point that this would cost you an X amount of money without running the counter, or even pretending that they forgot to run the counter or close it “By mistake” during the trip!
Now the amount of money asked by them after midnight can be even less than yellow cabs at this time of the night, and pretty equal to how much the counter would count, the only difference is that the driver would get the money for his own pocket, and not for the company's.... when asking the drivers why would they do that, they all answer the same complaining from the Kuwaiti company's administration and their low wages (which is 250 JDs plus commissions by the way). Not that much for a driver who has been driving for at least 3-4 years! And what kind of QOS would come when you give your employees such low wages! It would have been more convenient for the Kuwaitis to give more wages for their drivers than having ads on small dirty and unclear ads boards on the middle of the road!
Last but not least, when it comes to phone requesting the cab, the call center is simply rubbish! I've never, ever been answered until now by the customer service operators! It simply keeps ringing and ringing with no answer even in day time. Now the call center is divided into both, an automated taxi request (which weirdly is not always active !! as sometimes the phone just starts ringing at the operator after you hear a voice that the call is recorded for quality measurement), and a vocal one that keeps ringing with no answer as mentioned earlier. As for the automated request, the menu is kind of boring, with some nonsense questions like (press 1 to have a home taxi request or 2 for an office taxi request). And the fact that the automated request prevents you from specifying a time that is less than 30 mins ahead from your call.
Last but not least, i observed that request operators speak with the drivers regarding the requests through the phone (the tracking device is over GSM and has a phone as well), using a headset, and once i even noticed that the operator has assigned a request to the taxi i was riding with despite the taxi was occupied with my order. The driver was telling the operator that he didn't receive the request and that he is occupied already, a very meaningful conversation that showed up that the tracking system they are using is not that of a magnificent one as it didn't show the taxi was occupied for the operator, nor sent the request correctly.
Taxi Al-Momayaz is a good service to have, but it can be much more better even!
In the last several months or so, we had witnessed some Kuwaiti investments in the public transportation sector, that were unfortunately rapidly hit by the global economic crisis as others. 1st was the Amman-Zarqa light railway project , that until now, not just only didn't get to see light, but is still in a “tendering mode!” , that is after the 1st investor (Pakistani – Chinese – Jordanian alliance of a constructor contractor , steel manufacturer and real estate office respectively ) was rejected after it exceeded the time limit of assuring the needed money twice. The 2nd company taking over this BOT project was a strong Kuwaiti – Spanish alliance that applied their strength in rising up the projects expenses, but also failed twice in assuring the needed money, and thus the project was withdrawn from it by the government, resulting in having a case raised up in an international court, where the government is currently paying this alliance back!
Anyway, On the other hand, the Kuwaitis came up taking a license last year for Al-Momayaz Taxi, to be a quality taxi service with high standards, availability, on demand service, and quality. Especially after the PTRC's failure and what was to be called “The beige taxi” few years back, which happened to be nothing more or less than the yellow ones, and are still roaming our streets just like the yellow cabs.
So, the crisis came, and the modifications started in Al-Momayaz tender! 1st from the time of starting (which was a couple of months late), to the number of cars to start with (the actual start was less than 50 cabs), the type of cars (From 200 Toyota Camrys and 200 Mercedes E200 to 300 Toyota Corollas and 100 Mercedes E200), until the changes in tariffs and making the Mercedes tariff start from 1 JD, though gas prices were much higher and time of contracting!
Anyway, Me personally, as a seeker for quality, didnt have any problem getting into a silver colored Corolla, just like other Corolla cabs roaming around the Jordanian streets and paying extra money just for the sake of quality, quality to be represented with several added value services starting from polite and well trained drivers, with no “sorry that's not my way” excuses, to GPS tracking for the cars, requesting cabs by phone (also assisted by the GPS tracking system to let operators choose the closest car to your location), specified tariffs regardless of the time or destination, and even electronic payment.
When things come to the ground, you can obviously find that those from Al-Momayaz Taxi care about the image, the cars are always clean and tidy from inside and outside as well as their drivers, who are well selected and are professional as well as polite ones. Momayaz Taxi are also making sure to have stationaries at several luxurious hotels and commercial centers around town. But , is that all that is needed by such a service !?
Well, when it comes to the riding experience, Al-Momayaz taxi has new kinds of taxi counters (still not as supposed to be and not up to European standards), but good enough to be clear and give you a receipt with your trip details. And you'd pay just as the counter says, with no extra amounts of money for certain areas like yellow cabs would sometimes do when you tell them you want to go to a place they don't prefer. And al-momayaz drivers accept to stop and wait for you to drop by a shop or something during the trip without any problems, much not like the yellow cab drivers. But when it comes to late night hours (after midnight mainly), several experiences showed up that we still do have the after midnight problem of not sticking to the counter even in the Al-Momayaz Taxi! Either by having the driver telling you short and to the point that this would cost you an X amount of money without running the counter, or even pretending that they forgot to run the counter or close it “By mistake” during the trip!
Now the amount of money asked by them after midnight can be even less than yellow cabs at this time of the night, and pretty equal to how much the counter would count, the only difference is that the driver would get the money for his own pocket, and not for the company's.... when asking the drivers why would they do that, they all answer the same complaining from the Kuwaiti company's administration and their low wages (which is 250 JDs plus commissions by the way). Not that much for a driver who has been driving for at least 3-4 years! And what kind of QOS would come when you give your employees such low wages! It would have been more convenient for the Kuwaitis to give more wages for their drivers than having ads on small dirty and unclear ads boards on the middle of the road!
Last but not least, when it comes to phone requesting the cab, the call center is simply rubbish! I've never, ever been answered until now by the customer service operators! It simply keeps ringing and ringing with no answer even in day time. Now the call center is divided into both, an automated taxi request (which weirdly is not always active !! as sometimes the phone just starts ringing at the operator after you hear a voice that the call is recorded for quality measurement), and a vocal one that keeps ringing with no answer as mentioned earlier. As for the automated request, the menu is kind of boring, with some nonsense questions like (press 1 to have a home taxi request or 2 for an office taxi request). And the fact that the automated request prevents you from specifying a time that is less than 30 mins ahead from your call.
Last but not least, i observed that request operators speak with the drivers regarding the requests through the phone (the tracking device is over GSM and has a phone as well), using a headset, and once i even noticed that the operator has assigned a request to the taxi i was riding with despite the taxi was occupied with my order. The driver was telling the operator that he didn't receive the request and that he is occupied already, a very meaningful conversation that showed up that the tracking system they are using is not that of a magnificent one as it didn't show the taxi was occupied for the operator, nor sent the request correctly.
Taxi Al-Momayaz is a good service to have, but it can be much more better even!
17 November, 2008
"Jordan Business" ignoring my response on last month's story
It was "interesting enough", as much as disappointing, how non of the points i mentioned in my response on Jordan Business's Magazine last month's cover story were neither commented by any of the magazine's staff to whom the response was sent, nor mentioned and not even commented in this month's edition of the magazine.
If you never tried public transportation, and can't move your self out of that car, just SHUT UP! we dont need your "Rich thoughts" if you consider public transportation for the "lower class".
Physically speaking, the bus riders are in a higher lever than car drivers by the way.
If you never tried public transportation, and can't move your self out of that car, just SHUT UP! we dont need your "Rich thoughts" if you consider public transportation for the "lower class".
Physically speaking, the bus riders are in a higher lever than car drivers by the way.
19 October, 2008
Responding on Jordan Business Magazine's public transportation Cover Story
This month's Jordan Business magazine had an interesting Cover Story about Public Transportation by Zaina Steityeh. That went to tackle several domains in the public transportation. But i felt like commenting on the parts talking about urban public transportation in Amman.
1st of all, I would like to talk a bit about the GAM taking over the control of public transportation in Amman. Which is indeed a move in the right way, as traffic and transportation have been always connected together from an urban point of view, and where-ever you go in this world, you'd always find urban public transportation always in the hand of the city municipalities, both as a regulator and operator, something which is not yet implemented in Amman, despite the fact that the GAM has 13% of the CMTC, the biggest operators in the capital Amman, but they don't really have so-called “weight” in that, and on the contrary, the owners of the CMTC are using that for their benefit, just like when the CMTC tried to convince the GAM to do a “special recommendation” to the licensing department to let them accept the 15 Convema buses (Convema is a non existing brand by the way), which were produced at the free zone by a sister company owned as well by Abu Khader Group, without having ABS (which is a requirement for licensing buses) nor any other minimal safety requirements, and which were put on the black-list by the licensing department. Unfortunately, the buses were licensed accordingly and are operating for a while now. And maybe this story would justify the unnamed source that told the story writer, quoting: “When it's separate, the regulatory body doesn't have a direct link to the bottom line of the operation and will, therefore, not be tempted to take shortcuts, overlook safety precautions or take cost-cutting measures at the expense of the final consumer. Out citizen”.
Anyway, fortunately, this was the only bad effect we have witnessed until the moment from the GAM taking over the regulation of Public Transportation in Amman. On the other hand, we have witnessed a lot of efficiency in planning, especially in the fact that the GAM got convinced that traffic problems should be solved by having a better organized, managed, and attractive urban public transportation (something i have been saying since 2005 anyway!), and that the GAM is willing finally to have a multi-dimensional public transportation, by creating a new backbone of BRT and LRT services. As well as efficiency in other minor things, like re-pricing, when the fuel prices went up, in comparison with the PTRC for example.
Despite that, we are still facing another kind of duplicability in the sector which wasn't mentioned in the article, when it comes to short routes that start from Amman, cross a big part of Amman, and head towards end of routes outside it. As those routes serve a lot of people moving inside Amman, while they are still in the hand of PTRC, and people have no other choice but use those means of transport. Simple examples are the Zarqa buses which are the only ones serving areas like Tabarbour and Marka when trying to head to/from there towards University of Jordan and Western Amman. As well as Raghadan-Salt and Raghadan-Baqaa routes. So we are having routes on main corridors in Amman, serving quite big numbers of people, and are still regulated by the PTRC. Ironically, some of those routes are even served for example by the CMTC which the GAM has a share of 13%!
Moving forward in the article towards the “Diffused Ownership” section. Diffused Ownership might be a headache and problem causer in the sector in general, something i totally agree, especially when it comes to poor routes that link some towns/cities to more remote areas, but the experience showed that companies ownership of routes is not that much better when it comes to urban public transportation. To be more precise, no single company handling urban (or part-urban) public transportation is doing it well, a part from the CMTC (which i will be talking about later), there are also other companies operating their routes in bad manners, with very “rubbished” and unmannered-unmaintained buses, quite very good examples are the very famous Raghadan-Salt buses which are owned by a company called: “Abu Rajouh & Abu Haswa & Co”, Yes! despite being medium sized buses, or so-called “Coaster” buses, those notably dirty, unmaintained, and always with a black cloud coming out of their exhausts buses on this route are ALL owned by a company that cares only to push their vehicles to the limit in order to raise their income! Similar examples are “Ahmad Abul S'oud & Hamad Abu Zaid Co” famous for operating in eastern Amman areas, as well as the very famous rubbished Zarqa buses moving towards most of Amman's areas owned by “Armouti, Ghweiri, & Sawalha Co”. As well as several others. All of those are not owned by individual bus owners, but all of us are having problems with them as bus users, especially when it comes to buses maintenance and safety, as well as quality of service, and non-commitment to routes in some cases, and lets totally forget about schedules and peak hours jams! Thus, I guess that the GAM and PTRC should 1st solve us our problems with those “Fat ownerships” that care only about rapid profit, then start saying Diffused ownership is a problem. And I would have liked it if Zaina Steityeh came down out of her car to the streets, and try some of those operators bad service, and compare it for example to quality bus services provided by a lot of organized Individual Bus owners, just like those operating on routes like Sweileh-Wadi Al-Seer, and Sweileh-Dakhelieh Circle. Routes on which individual bus drivers and owners have agreed on organized service and queuing (with frequencies that reach 1 bus/minute in peak times even!), and routes on which over 90% of the buses are always clean and tidy, and routes like the 2nd mentioned where buses operate up late to 11 PM and beyond 12 midnight in holidays!
I agree, however, with Mr Qudah's point when it comes to Diffused Ownerships in the trucking sector, and i guess that the Ministry of Transport should encourage small and medium projects in this sector to try eliminating diffused ownerships in it. Good models to follow are the ones in Turkey & Eastern European countries, where small & medium companies with 10-15 trucks have a range of operation that reach the shores of the Atlantic! I don't want to get deeper into this at the moment though.
Last but not least, I want to comment on the information mentioned about the CMTC, mainly by its CEO, Mr Moayad Tarawneh, who, with all respect, is either so stupid to know what is really going on in that company behind him, or think that we are all so stupid to know what is going in there in that company by the company's owners he is facading!
What kind of effect does “Diffused Ownership” has on CMTC bad management of operation, as almost at any time in the day, you can find buses of their company roaming empty, to i don't know where, and their drivers refusing to stop and carryout people! (Oh! Or is it that the GAM is paying half of the raise in diesel prices, so to hell with the GAM's money!). And how does “Diffused Ownership” effect the messiness and non existence of scheduled services, and the miserable situation of their buses! And how does “Diffused Ownership” effect a route such as “Raghadan-Sweileh” that they tried to start, with buses leaving once every 40-50 minutes, and that start operating after the end of morning jam at around 9 AM and stop operating before 5 PM!
1st of all, the system they bough with over 1.5 million dollars, which is a combination of fleet tracking and electronic smart-card fare-collection system. Is already late for over 1 year and 4 months now. And its not up and running yet! And wont even be entirely up! As it will be limited to the electronic smart-card fare-collection part, without the fleet tracking part! Noting that over 130 buses (the ones inherited from Asia Transport Co.) were already running a very efficient smart card fare-collection system, with re-chargeable RFID cards, POS charging units, & card validators in all those buses. All of that ever since 2001, and i was my self a heavy user of those as well as tens of thousands others, including my 4 years campus life! So, it wasn't something “we were just dreaming of”, and the CMTC could have just extended the already existing investment by adding more POS and bus validators in their fleet! While when it comes to the fleet tracking part, which i am repeating again IS NOT RUNNING, just in the summer of 2007, the CMTC were offered a “Public Transportation Information System” that enabled entire real-time fleet tracking, automated and dynamic bus scheduling, automated remote control, and Dynamic real time Passenger Information in bus stations and through mobile and internet service, all at less than 30% of the costs they bought this system & up within 4 months, and was REFUSED by the company owners “The Abu Khader's”, claiming that the turkish 1.5 million $ system will be up and no-time, and that they are not in need of all those “extra features”!
Interesting, isn't it!
While on the other hand, since the CMTC are paying 3500 Euro/each digital bus display, can they at least properly turn them ON! The screens installed on their new buses are very unsuitable in shiny conditions, are MOSTLY turned OFF! Malfunctioned! Or simply showing a WRONG ROUTE other than the ones the bus is operating on! While the Yellow displays installed in older buses (Mostly on the ones inherited from Asia Transport Co) are way much better, though they are sometimes malfunctioned or simply turned off!
Thus, the CMTC's investment is wasted as pure as that! Absolutely everything Mr Tarawneh claimed in this interview to be exclusively done by the CMTC is done in a wrong way! I wonder if Mr Tarawneh ever tried even to spend a whole day on his fleet to see how easily can his white shirt capture the dirt in the bus, how some buses have rain dripping from their ceiling in winter, how he can be late at work because his oldest 1999 buses “that he thinks are still pretty new” move in a speed of 25 KMs/h while he is standing near the backseat of the bus with half of the bus's fumes spreading inside the bus, how he would have his head hitting in the ceiling of the bus's door while trying to hope off the new 2008 Mercedes buses which were built by Elba with wrong dimensions and standards, how he can wait in front of his office in Mecca Street waiting for a bus that almost never comes, or a bus that just goes under the Al-Kilo intersection in the tunnel ignoring the masses waiting regularly at the bus stop from where the bus should actually pass, or try to squeeze in between the students in a full bus going From or To the Hashemite University! That his company is serving!
Or even at least spend a day at the so-called maintenance centers where “Consumed Motor Oils” from other AK Automotive centers are used as fresh oil for CMTC's buses.
& can he just name me the so-claimed 42 routes the CMTC is operating! & tell us which are actually running, and which are just fake-outs on the paper!!
Again, its either that he is stupid, or thinks we are stupid, both cases, he is just an employee and a facade that hides out the company owners. & I mentioned also that he made a couple of mistakes in his interview, 1st, the GAM owns 13% of the CMTC and not 20%, the 2nd is the fact that the CMTC is a so-called “consortium” of 3 companies and not 4! which are Al-Thelal (owned by Abu Khader Automotive), Al-Tawfeek (which was also bought by Al-Thelal about a month before the creation of the CMTC), and Asia Transport Co., whose owner withdrew from the company awhile ago because of loads of managerial problems in the way the Abu Khader's where leading the CMTC. So mainly its a takeover not a consortium.
I would have wished if the story owner, Zaina Steityeh, would have investigated more on what is really going on in the streets and on the ground when it comes to urban public transportation, instead of having just some rosy statements for some people that, maybe, never tried to use urban public transportation inside Amman! & maybe even tried to have several rides her self!
Anyway, thank you for the interesting cover story, without it i might not had even wrote this long response that is almost as long as the story it self :)
Conclusion: Will Jordan Ever Get the Public Transportation System it Deserves?
I hope so, but nothing on the ground so far!
16 October, 2008
BRT in Amman
Yes, its confirmed, both BRT(Bus Rapid Transit) & LRT (Light Railway Transit) will be forming the new backbone of urban public transportation in the capital Amman. and not as was mentioned before in the article published in Alrai about a month ago, and which i have commented on in a post right then.
Apparently, the reporter from Al-Rai got the whole thing wrong! and as i was told & confirmed by mr Ayman Smadi from The GAM, a BRT will be made on the University of Jordan route, and not a tramway.
Both, BRT & LRT, will move the entire urban public transportation infrastructure in Amman to another level, and more even, to a multi-leveled one, with having BRT & LRT creating the backbone of this infrastructure on the main corridors in the capital.
As for BRT, for those who don't really know about it. BRT, or Bus Rapid Transit, is a very big and long bus service, operating on their own street, in parallel with the ordinary street, assuring rapid, comfortable, and frequency-based Quality of Service. away from the messiness and traffic jams on the on the street.
One very successful experience is istanbul's BRT, branded as MetroBus.
Here is also a video showing you the difference of speed between the BRT and the regular traffic.
Istanbul's New BRT System in Action from EMBARQ Network on Vimeo.
Thanks also to fayez who pointed out a piece of news in today's alghad newspaper confirming BRT's implementation.
Apparently, the reporter from Al-Rai got the whole thing wrong! and as i was told & confirmed by mr Ayman Smadi from The GAM, a BRT will be made on the University of Jordan route, and not a tramway.
Both, BRT & LRT, will move the entire urban public transportation infrastructure in Amman to another level, and more even, to a multi-leveled one, with having BRT & LRT creating the backbone of this infrastructure on the main corridors in the capital.
As for BRT, for those who don't really know about it. BRT, or Bus Rapid Transit, is a very big and long bus service, operating on their own street, in parallel with the ordinary street, assuring rapid, comfortable, and frequency-based Quality of Service. away from the messiness and traffic jams on the on the street.
One very successful experience is istanbul's BRT, branded as MetroBus.
Here is also a video showing you the difference of speed between the BRT and the regular traffic.
Istanbul's New BRT System in Action from EMBARQ Network on Vimeo.
Thanks also to fayez who pointed out a piece of news in today's alghad newspaper confirming BRT's implementation.
23 September, 2008
GAM to spend 5 million/KM on "Poor's railway" instead of BRT!
via alrai newspaper
Important Note: Apparently, Al-rai's reporter missed things up, and the GAM will be implementing BRT in Amman. DETAILS HERE
In short, the Greater Amman Municipality is planning to build a couple of urban railway tracks in the capital, the 1st will be similar to a tramway (if not actually one) in a separate lane in the middle of the streets, and will be called "Poor's railway" and will be connected Al-Mahatta to University of Jordan, and later extended to the 5th circle via King Abdulla Gardens.
The 2nd project will be an underground metro (& maybe onground in some areas) from Al-Mahatta via downtown and Wadi Saqra street to King Abdullah Gardents.
I'm very much into the 2nd project, especially that the area is narrow & needs such a project.
But i don't understand this "Poor's railway / tramway" thing!
1st of all is the name! which is SOOOOOOOOO underrated for such an important and dynamic project. and its not only me mentioning that!
While on the other hand, the HUGE cost of the project raises a big question mark! 5 million JD / KM is a HUGE amount of money. and instead of having all the mess from such a project, and all the years needed to implement it (& the glitches taken from the zarqa light railway project that didn't see light until now), and all the money to spend.
A small simple rapid solution can be implementing BRT instead!
BRT: Standing for "Bus Rapid Transit" is a broad term given to a variety of transportation systems that, through improvements to infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling, attempt to use buses to provide a service that is of a higher quality than an ordinary bus line.
Thus, we can make the same lanes, but with asphalt instead of a railway, with the same stations and ticketing and so ... & have Big Hybrid buses running through it.
& there you go, the entire project done in a couple of months, and with the cost of 2 KMs or less! & pretty much easily extensible.
Like this!
& the buses can be even as big as this!
and the web is just FULL of BRT plans .... here are some blogs even!
عمان - محمد الدويري - قال مدير دائرة النقل والمرور في امانة عمان السيد عبد الرحيم الوريكات ان الامانة تعتزم انشاء نوعين من سكك الحديد في عمان اولها خط النقل السريع وموقعه داخل الجزيرة الوسطية والاخر خط سكة اما يكون فوق الارض او تحتها بحسب الدراسات.
واضاف الوريكات في تصريح لـ''الرأي'' ان الامانة ستطرح خلال شهرين عطاء الدراسات والتصميم للمشروعين الذي تصل كلفة الاول 5 ملايين دينار لكل كيلو متر فيما تصل كلفة الاخر 20 مليون دينار لكل كيلو متر.
وبين الوريكات ان خط النقل السريع الذي يطلق عليه ''سكة الفقراء'' سيكون ضمن مسارب خاصة تأتي في الجزيرة الوسطية للشارع وستمتد المرحلة الاولى من شارع الجامعة الاردنية الى المحطة فيما تشمل المرحلة الثانية شارع الاميرة بسمة وثم يربط الدوار الخامس باشارة وادي صقرة ثم المدينة الرياضية.
اما مشروع سكة الحديد، قال الوريكات ان السكة ستمتد من وسط البلد الى المحطة وشارع الملك حسين ثم شارع سليمان النابلسي و شارع شاكر بن زيد الى اشارات وادي صقرة
Important Note: Apparently, Al-rai's reporter missed things up, and the GAM will be implementing BRT in Amman. DETAILS HERE
In short, the Greater Amman Municipality is planning to build a couple of urban railway tracks in the capital, the 1st will be similar to a tramway (if not actually one) in a separate lane in the middle of the streets, and will be called "Poor's railway" and will be connected Al-Mahatta to University of Jordan, and later extended to the 5th circle via King Abdulla Gardens.
The 2nd project will be an underground metro (& maybe onground in some areas) from Al-Mahatta via downtown and Wadi Saqra street to King Abdullah Gardents.
I'm very much into the 2nd project, especially that the area is narrow & needs such a project.
But i don't understand this "Poor's railway / tramway" thing!
1st of all is the name! which is SOOOOOOOOO underrated for such an important and dynamic project. and its not only me mentioning that!
While on the other hand, the HUGE cost of the project raises a big question mark! 5 million JD / KM is a HUGE amount of money. and instead of having all the mess from such a project, and all the years needed to implement it (& the glitches taken from the zarqa light railway project that didn't see light until now), and all the money to spend.
A small simple rapid solution can be implementing BRT instead!
BRT: Standing for "Bus Rapid Transit" is a broad term given to a variety of transportation systems that, through improvements to infrastructure, vehicles and scheduling, attempt to use buses to provide a service that is of a higher quality than an ordinary bus line.
Thus, we can make the same lanes, but with asphalt instead of a railway, with the same stations and ticketing and so ... & have Big Hybrid buses running through it.
& there you go, the entire project done in a couple of months, and with the cost of 2 KMs or less! & pretty much easily extensible.
Like this!
& the buses can be even as big as this!
and the web is just FULL of BRT plans .... here are some blogs even!
18 September, 2008
More on CMTC's fake financial reports.
Commenting on yesterday's post, which was a quoted economic analysis made by Mr Hasan Al-Shobakee, from Alghad newspaper about the financial situation of the CMTC (The Comprehensive Multiple Transportation Company), the major urban public transportation operator in the capital Amman, and which was branded lately as “autobus”. And no, i didnt forget to link it to autobus.jo, its just that the domain name advertised on the buses never was and still, a domain without an operating website.
A lot of financial issues were published in the article, summarizing here in English (since the article was in Arabic) some of the facts that the company's financial report, made by Amwal invest, was a complete fake out for the actual company situation, the entire set of numbers was different in the Social Security Dept's assessment report according to which the Social Security Dept withdrew from the company (considering the tight relations between Amwal Invest and the major owners in CMTC – Abu Khader Automotive).
So, from personal loans thrown on the company's budget, even to loans taken for buses maintenance and rehabilitation (which wasn't even used), to the “Convema” (a non existing brand) buses that where but from another company by AK automotive which has build the buses at the Free Zone upon Mitsubishi Canter pickups chases and engine with over 71,000 JD bus each, with a total of 1.07 Million JD, financed in leasing by AK automotive's own leasing company. Even though those buses dont even cost 40,000 JD (a number estimated by the Social Security Dept in their report apparently), especially since we are talking about low quality materials, plastic windows, and no safety dotations (not even ABS, a fact that those buses were made by the company at the free zone in 2004, and not allowed to be soled inside Jordan because of this fact!). And finally to the fact that the CMTC acquisition of Asia Transport Co was made with 18.9 million JD, which the actual amount didn't exceed 7.7 million JD!
With an end of the story regarding the introduction of CMTC in the Amman Stock Exchange earlier this year, where it was said that stocks were sold with 18 million JD in this introduction, while the actual amount was 8 million JD. That is after both, their attempt of faking out financial reports as above failed in attracting people to buy the company's stocks, as well as the image makeover of their buses and branding them as “autobus” didn't get that much success, a an external makeover in which they attempted to hide the bad quality of service and miserable situation of the buses.
Since about the bad quality service i have already talked several times and can keep on talking. This time i want to give out a small random sample of observations on what is more hidden and away from the eyes of my dear luxury car drivers and riders.
Photos are from my own collection, as well as courtesy of Ehab Hakawati and Ro'a Eliwat. and those are just a small sample of what our eyes catch daily!
The marked is the convema buses mentioned above
Most of the buses have tight spaces for passengers, due to the fact that the company squeezes more rows of seats than the actual number
No Comment
and of course, in a rush hour, where the bus is almost full on feet as well, imagine standing beside a door with a broken window!
Some Digital displays are not working at all
while others are broken despite being new! and you can only guess on what route this bus is moving, and talk with the driver sign language!
and lets not forget the miserable hygienic situation inside the buses
A lot of financial issues were published in the article, summarizing here in English (since the article was in Arabic) some of the facts that the company's financial report, made by Amwal invest, was a complete fake out for the actual company situation, the entire set of numbers was different in the Social Security Dept's assessment report according to which the Social Security Dept withdrew from the company (considering the tight relations between Amwal Invest and the major owners in CMTC – Abu Khader Automotive).
So, from personal loans thrown on the company's budget, even to loans taken for buses maintenance and rehabilitation (which wasn't even used), to the “Convema” (a non existing brand) buses that where but from another company by AK automotive which has build the buses at the Free Zone upon Mitsubishi Canter pickups chases and engine with over 71,000 JD bus each, with a total of 1.07 Million JD, financed in leasing by AK automotive's own leasing company. Even though those buses dont even cost 40,000 JD (a number estimated by the Social Security Dept in their report apparently), especially since we are talking about low quality materials, plastic windows, and no safety dotations (not even ABS, a fact that those buses were made by the company at the free zone in 2004, and not allowed to be soled inside Jordan because of this fact!). And finally to the fact that the CMTC acquisition of Asia Transport Co was made with 18.9 million JD, which the actual amount didn't exceed 7.7 million JD!
With an end of the story regarding the introduction of CMTC in the Amman Stock Exchange earlier this year, where it was said that stocks were sold with 18 million JD in this introduction, while the actual amount was 8 million JD. That is after both, their attempt of faking out financial reports as above failed in attracting people to buy the company's stocks, as well as the image makeover of their buses and branding them as “autobus” didn't get that much success, a an external makeover in which they attempted to hide the bad quality of service and miserable situation of the buses.
Since about the bad quality service i have already talked several times and can keep on talking. This time i want to give out a small random sample of observations on what is more hidden and away from the eyes of my dear luxury car drivers and riders.
Photos are from my own collection, as well as courtesy of Ehab Hakawati and Ro'a Eliwat. and those are just a small sample of what our eyes catch daily!
The marked is the convema buses mentioned above
Most of the buses have tight spaces for passengers, due to the fact that the company squeezes more rows of seats than the actual number
No Comment
and of course, in a rush hour, where the bus is almost full on feet as well, imagine standing beside a door with a broken window!
Some Digital displays are not working at all
while others are broken despite being new! and you can only guess on what route this bus is moving, and talk with the driver sign language!
and lets not forget the miserable hygienic situation inside the buses
17 September, 2008
أمانة عمان تكتشف "فضائح" المتكاملة للنقل المتعدد
هذا المقال تم نشره البارحة في جريدة الغد، كتحليل إقتصادي للسيد حسن الشوبكي، و تم نقله كما هو:
امين عمان يحول "خلافا " بين الامانة والشركة المتكاملة للنقل المتعدد الى التحكيم، ويعهد بالتحكيم الى وزير الصناعة والتجارة السابق شريف الزعبي. خبر مقتضب نشر مؤخرا في صحيفة يومية .. بيد ان القصة الكاملة للشركة المتكاملة تستوجب التحويل الى قضاء اكثر تخصصا على اثر ما كان يجري
فيها خلال العامين الماضيين، اسوة بالقضايا المماثلة التي تم التعامل معها بالطرق القضائية الصحيحة، بوصف الشركة مساهمة عامة ارتكب فيها ما يمس الحقوق وما يؤشر على ضياع الاموال وتكبيد الشركة خسائر تكشفها ميزانيتها للعام الماضي.
تداعيات ما حدث في الشركة المتكاملة للنقل المتعدد – مساهمة عامة برأسمال 20 مليون دينار – كشفت من خلال تقريرين متناقضين حيال وضع الشركة المالي، الاول اعدته شركة "اموال انفست" والتي يرأسها هنري عزام والثاني اعدته دائرة تمويل المشاريع في الهيئة الاستثمارية التابعة للضمان
الاجتماعي، وكان التقرير الاول اعد في منتصف الشهر الاخير من العام 2006 وذلك لتقدير السعرالعادل لسهم الشركة لغايات الشراء.
تقرير "اموال انفست" يكشف تباينا واضحا واختلافا في الايرادات الفعلية للشركة المتكاملة وارباحها واوضاع الباصات فيها، علما ان رئيس اموال انفست هنري عزام يشارك في عضوية مجلس ادارة " المتكاملة "، وفي مقابل ذلك يقدم تقرير الهيئة الاستثمارية صورة اكثر سوداوية لواقع الشركة المالي والاداري.
وتشير البيانات في ميزانية الشركة المتكاملة للعامين الماضيين الى ان الشركة زادت التزاماتها خلال الشهرين الاخيرين من العام 2006 بمبلغ اضافي قدره 4.6 مليون دينار لترفع التزاماتها بذلك الى 8.6 مليون دينار، وهي التزامات فيها الكثير من الذمم الشخصية على رئيس مجلس الادارة جورج ابو خضر على النحو التالي: قرض بمبلغ مليوني دينار من بنك الاتحاد لتسديد جزء من شراء شركة اسيا، قرض بمبلغ ربع مليون دينار من بنك الاتحاد لاعادة بناء وصيانة باصات الشركة لكنه لم يستغل، وذمم اخرى على رئيس مجلس الادارة جورج ابو خضر.
ويكشف تقرير الهيئة الاستثمارية انه بالاضافة الى اقتراض رئيس مجلس الادارة بموجب اسم الشركة المتكاملة لتملك شركات شقيقة، فإن الشركة المتكاملة اشترت 15 حافلة من نوع " كوفيما " بمبلغ 1.07 مليون دينار من الشركة الشقيقة والتي كانت تملك مصنعا لتصنيع الباصات في المنطقة الحرة وتم التمويل عن طريق شركة شقيقة اخرى وهي المتكاملة للتاجير التمويلي وبمعدل 70 الف دينار لسعر الباص الواحد، علما ان سعرالباص كما يؤكد تقرير الهيئة لايتجاوز 40 الفا وبمواصفات افضل.
في ذات الشأن المالي، فان ميزانية الشركة للعام الماضي تظهر خسائر متراكمة بحجم 1.9 مليون دينار، كما تظهر البيانات المالية التي اعدت لتنفيذ صفقة بيع السهم بسعر 1.6 دينار للسهم الواحد ان الثمن الفعلي لبيع الاسهم بلغ نحو 8 ملايين دينار وليس 18 مليون دينار وهو ما يدعو الى التساؤل عن سبب ادراج مبلغ الشهرة في الميزانية ورفعه الى 11.3 مليون دينار.
وقد كانت الشركة المتكاملة قد قامت في نهاية عام 2006 بشراء كامل حصص الشركاء في رأسمال احدى شركات النقل مقابل مبلغ 18.9 مليون دينار والتي تمت على اساس صافي حقوق الشركاء لتلك الشركات والبالغة 7.6 مليون دينار بحيث تم اعتبار الفرق البالغ 11.3 مليون دينار شهرة ناتجة عن شراء كامل حصص رأسمال تلك الشركات.
تفاصيل " المتكاملة " ليست عادية او طبيعية او حتى قانونية، ويسجل للفريق الذي درس اوضاع الشركة من الهيئة الاستثمارية قيمة الملاحظات التي وردت في التقرير وكانت سببا في عدم الشراء لاحقا، وهو ما يجعل الكثير من التساؤلات تثور جملة واحدة بعد قرار امين عمان المهندس عمرالمعاني تحويل الخلاف بين الامانة التي تملك 20 % من الشركة وادارة المتكاملة الى التحكيم.
من اهم الملاحظات والتساؤلات في هذه القصة يكمن التساؤل عن سبب عدم وقف المعاني لتلك التجاوزات بعد علمه ومعرفته بما كان يدور في اروقة الشركة المتكاملة ودهاليزها، وابلغ من ذلك، التساؤل عن الجهة القانونية التي من المفترض ان تقدم استشارات قانونية للمعاني وهي ذات الجهة التي تأخذ اتعابها بالدقيقة، واخيرا ، كيف يمكن فهم تحويل التحكيم الى مكتب شريف الزعبي، علما بان الزعبي كان وزيرا للصناعة والتجارة خلال تسجيل تلك المخالفات في الشركة، وكان حريا ان يتم كشفها في عهد الوزير وبموجب مسؤوليته وبحكم موقعه انذاك، حتى لا يتكرر ذات المشهد في هذه الشركة اوفي أي شركة مشابهة من الشركات المساهمة العامة.
وثمة معطيات تؤشر على وجود مخالفات ذات طابع كبير وتبعات قانونية اكبر من ان تعالج في اروقة القضاء المدني او التحكيم، ولعل من ابرزها ان التقرير المالي الذي اعدته شركة اموال انفست يقدم رواية وردية للشركة لا تؤيدها رواية فريق الهيئة الاستثمارية ولا تؤيدها ايضا ما الت اليه
الخلافات بين امانة عمان ممثلة بعمر المعاني عضو مجلس ادارة الشركة المتكاملة وبين الشركة ذاتها، مع تجديد التساؤل عن قانونية اعداد تقريراموال انفست من عدمه، وهي التي يشارك رئيسها هنري عزام في عضوية مجلس ادارة المتكاملة.
ومن الغريب جدا وغير المقبول ايضا ان توظف اموال شركة مساهمة عامة لتمويل مشاريع خاصة لاصحاب رأس المال فيها ، وهذا ما جرى العمل عليه في تلك الشركة ، اذ لا يعقل ان يقترض اصحاب رأس المال من شركة لتمويل استثماراتهم فيها، واين مراقبة الشركات في وزارة الصناعة والتجارة من كل هذا، ام ان مراقبة الشركات تكتفي بحضور اجتماعات الهيئات العامة وتنفذ دورا شكليا لا علاقة له بما يجري داخل الشركات من مخالفات او انتهاكات.
قصة المتكاملة يجب ان تكون على طاولة القضاء المختص بهذا المستوى من المخالفات لا ان يجري لملمتها وكأن اموال الشعب والضرائب التي تدفع لا قيمة لها، ويتصرف به أي كان في الشركات المساهمة العامة، التي تشير الوقائع الى انها ابعد ما يكون عن عين الرقيب.
لا أدري ماذا أعلق على ذلك، أنا شخصياً أعرف بالعديد من هذه الأمور و النقاط المذكورة، و لكن ليس بالأرقام كما هو مذكور. على كل حال، قد أقوم بالتعليق على ذلك في بوست آخر لاحقاً
My comments are available in a separate post, here
20 August, 2008
Messiness of Urban Public transportation in Amman
هذه التدوينة متوفرة أيضاً باللغة العربية هنا
I've wrote once before, in another post, on another occasion how did the Urban Public Transportation in Amman became "Worse Than Ever".
That is, apart from much other occasions writing about urban public transportation in Amman, always depending on personal experiences or related people's experiences.
And the story continues, and Messier than ever, and even on the most important routes in the capital operated by the CMTC, and even in front of the management and owners of the CMTC.
Time: Yesterday, 19-8-2008. at 4:19 PM
Place: Amman, Al-Haramein intersection (Al-Kilo), specifically at the Bus Station on Mecca Street before the intersection, on the southern edge of the road (pretty much adjacent to Abu Khader Automotive building, where the management offices of the CMTC are located).
2 Routes pass by that bus station, Medical City – Raghadan (Route Nr 43), and The Western Circular Route (Nr 59).
At that very moment i reached the station, there were around 10 people and counting.
4:26 PM
At the station there are around 15 individuals, a bus working on route 43 reaches the station (which was for the note, 1 of the newly introduced 116 Mercedes Elba buses, and had the digital route display TURNED OFF!), people wave for him to stop, and nothing, the bus continues while passing just by them!!! The bus seats were full, and some people were standing, but there was space for more standing people. Some waiting passengers were upset, others decided to take a taxi.
4:40 PM
15 – 17 people waiting at the station, as some people appeared, and others left by Taxis, far away in the street a bus on Route 43 appears, but when getting closer it decides to get through the tunnel under the intersection.... The waiting passengers started laughing ironically on their situation.
4:45 PM
A bus working on the Western Circular route (Nr 59), which i was waiting for, reaches the station. That is, after 25 minutes of waiting a bus whose frequency is said to be 15 minutes, and the rest of the passengers remained there waiting for the Raghadan bus which is said to have a frequency of 10 minutes.... in addition to another 7 individuals waiting for the same bus in the bus station situated after the intersection, who i saw while my bus was turning left at the round about.
All of this, just off the windows of the Comprehensive Multiple Transportation Company, whose buses were being waited by those people.
As a passenger, as well as person interested in the Ammani public transportation industry and service, and a user of it.... I don't need any more High-tech, i don't need no Smart nor Stupid card systems (which you have been promoting for over a year now with slow progress of implementation), I don't need Urban and environment friendly buses, nor ones on European standards. Nor i need beautiful painting that fakes out the truth behind the vehicle bodies branded catchy-ly as “autobus”
All I want is commitment and respect... without it, all the above are CRAP!
I've wrote once before, in another post, on another occasion how did the Urban Public Transportation in Amman became "Worse Than Ever".
That is, apart from much other occasions writing about urban public transportation in Amman, always depending on personal experiences or related people's experiences.
And the story continues, and Messier than ever, and even on the most important routes in the capital operated by the CMTC, and even in front of the management and owners of the CMTC.
Time: Yesterday, 19-8-2008. at 4:19 PM
Place: Amman, Al-Haramein intersection (Al-Kilo), specifically at the Bus Station on Mecca Street before the intersection, on the southern edge of the road (pretty much adjacent to Abu Khader Automotive building, where the management offices of the CMTC are located).
2 Routes pass by that bus station, Medical City – Raghadan (Route Nr 43), and The Western Circular Route (Nr 59).
At that very moment i reached the station, there were around 10 people and counting.
4:26 PM
At the station there are around 15 individuals, a bus working on route 43 reaches the station (which was for the note, 1 of the newly introduced 116 Mercedes Elba buses, and had the digital route display TURNED OFF!), people wave for him to stop, and nothing, the bus continues while passing just by them!!! The bus seats were full, and some people were standing, but there was space for more standing people. Some waiting passengers were upset, others decided to take a taxi.
4:40 PM
15 – 17 people waiting at the station, as some people appeared, and others left by Taxis, far away in the street a bus on Route 43 appears, but when getting closer it decides to get through the tunnel under the intersection.... The waiting passengers started laughing ironically on their situation.
4:45 PM
A bus working on the Western Circular route (Nr 59), which i was waiting for, reaches the station. That is, after 25 minutes of waiting a bus whose frequency is said to be 15 minutes, and the rest of the passengers remained there waiting for the Raghadan bus which is said to have a frequency of 10 minutes.... in addition to another 7 individuals waiting for the same bus in the bus station situated after the intersection, who i saw while my bus was turning left at the round about.
All of this, just off the windows of the Comprehensive Multiple Transportation Company, whose buses were being waited by those people.
As a passenger, as well as person interested in the Ammani public transportation industry and service, and a user of it.... I don't need any more High-tech, i don't need no Smart nor Stupid card systems (which you have been promoting for over a year now with slow progress of implementation), I don't need Urban and environment friendly buses, nor ones on European standards. Nor i need beautiful painting that fakes out the truth behind the vehicle bodies branded catchy-ly as “autobus”
All I want is commitment and respect... without it, all the above are CRAP!
فوضوية النقل العام داخل عمان.. أكثر من أي وقت مضى
This post is also available in English HERE
في مناسبة أخرى، كتبت في إحدى تدويناتي عن النقل العام المدني في عمان، و كيف أضحى في وقت كتابة تلك التدوينة "أسوء من أي وقت مضى".
ذلك عدا عن مناسبات أخرى عديدة كتبت فيها عن النقل العام داخل مدينة عمان.. معتمداً في كل الأحيان على تجارب شخصية أو أناس مقربين.
وتستمر الأسطورة، و بفوضاوية أكثر من أي وقت مضى.. و حتى على أكثر الخطوط حيوية في العاصمة التي تديرها الشركة المتكاملة، لا بل و حتى أمام مرأى مالكي و إداريي الشركة المتكاملة للنقل المتعدد!
الوقت: البارحة ، 19-8-2008. الساعة 4:19 مساءاً
الموقع: عمان، تقاطع الحرمين (الكيلو). بالتحديد على محطة الباصات الواقعة في شارع مكة قبل التقاطع على الجهة الجنوبية (قرب مقر مجموعة أبو خضر للسيارات، و التي تحوي أيضاً إدارة الشركة المتكاملة للنقل المتعدد).
يمر من ذلك الموقف خطان للنقل العام، المدينة الطبية – رغدان (خط رقم 43) ، و الدائري الغربي (خط رقم 59).
كان في تلك اللحظة التي وصلت فيها المحطة قرابة الــ 10 أشخاص ينتظرون، و غيري يستمر بالقدوم..
4:26
في المحطة قرابة الـ 15 شخص ... يصل باص يعمل على الخط 43 (بالمناسبة كان أحد الباصات الــ 116 التي أدخلت مؤخراً للخدمة، و شاشة الخط كانت مطفئة و لا تعمل)، يقوم الناس بالتلويح له للوقف و لكنه لا يتوقف!!!! و يستمر في المسير!! كان الباص ممتلئة مقاعده و لكن كان يوجد مكان للوقوف فيه.
بعض المنتظرين انزعجوا بحكم طول انتظارهم.و البعض قرر ان يركب تكسي.
4:40
في المحطة قرابة الـ 15-17 شخص بحكم أن أناس جدد أتوا لينتظروا الباص بينما آخرين غادروا. يبدوا في الأفق باص قادم يعمل على الخط 43، و لكن، و عند اقترابه قرر أن يدخل في النفق، و بالتالي لم يكن في وسع المنتظرين في المحطة سوى الضحك سخرية........... الله بعين، اللي استنى نص ساعة بستنى ساعة.
4:45
يأتي باص يعمل على خط الدائري الغربي (59) الذي كنت أنتظره، بعد 25 دقيقة انتظار لباص يحكى أن تردده كل 15 دقيقة، و بقي ركاب خط رغدان الذي يحكى أن تردد باصاته كل 10 دقائق في المحطة ينتظرونه ... كما كان غيرهم (حوالي الـ 7 أشخاص) ينتظرونه أيضاً في المحطة التي بعد التقاطع، و الذين شاهدتهم أثناء دوران الباص الذي ركبته للدوار.
كل ذلك حدث أمام مكاتب إدارة الشركة التي ينتظر أولائك الناس باصاتها.
كـــراكب و كشخص مهتم بالنقل العام في عمان و مستخدم له ... لم أعد أريد تكنولوجيا، لا أريد بطاقات ذكية و لا غبية (تعملون لها دعايات لأكثر من عام على الفاضي)، لا أريد باصات حديثة و لا صديقة للبيئة و لا حسب المواصفات الأوروبية. و لا دهان خارجي لائق و مزيف للحقائق المخفية وراء الهياكل مع إسم تجاري للأوتوباص!
كل ما أريد هو التزام و حياء ... فبدونه لا فائدة من كل ما سبق.
11 June, 2008
Amman City Tour - Part #2
After writing about the Amman City Tour in the previous post, and how much of a beneficial and mature touristic project it is for Amman.
Here is the full path of the Amman City Tour around the capital in this map.
The remarkable track starts from Down Town, to The Roman Theater down-town Amman, to The Citadel, Abdali, Weibdeh, Shmeisani, Gardens St, to Al-Hussein Park, City Mall, Mecca Mall, via Mecca St to the 6th circle, to Sweifieh (Wakalat St and Barakah Mall), to Abdoun Mall, and to under-construction Crown Mall in Abdoun beside Blue Fig, to Abdoun Circle, then to the 3rd circle and back down town again.
The Amman City Tour Bus stops are marked with such panels:
The project has also a website, well, which is under construction at the time of writing this post on www.ammancitytour.com
Here is the full path of the Amman City Tour around the capital in this map.
The remarkable track starts from Down Town, to The Roman Theater down-town Amman, to The Citadel, Abdali, Weibdeh, Shmeisani, Gardens St, to Al-Hussein Park, City Mall, Mecca Mall, via Mecca St to the 6th circle, to Sweifieh (Wakalat St and Barakah Mall), to Abdoun Mall, and to under-construction Crown Mall in Abdoun beside Blue Fig, to Abdoun Circle, then to the 3rd circle and back down town again.
The Amman City Tour Bus stops are marked with such panels:
The project has also a website, well, which is under construction at the time of writing this post on www.ammancitytour.com
10 June, 2008
Amman City Tour
Have you seen the BIG RED BUS :)
An interesting amazing touristic idea had bloomed and announced just a couple of days ago in Amman.
Amman City Tour, is a 100% successful project that the GAM is starting the summer tourist season with.
Yes, we finally have city tour buses in Amman ... finally, well, the buses are not top-chopped buses like in some european cities, & well, maybe that wont work with your heat waves. but they are remarkable enough
The buses do round trips all around the ancient and modern tourist attractions around the city. continuously until 9 PM in the evening, and 6 PM in the evening during the winter.
The buses can be boarded using smart cards that are sold in tourism agencies and hotels, which are valid for 24 hours since the 1st boarding. the round trippers and can get down from the bus at any station they want, at the citadel for example, spend some time there, and then get the bus again, since they pass every 40 minutes.
The smart project is cooperated also by Mesk Tourist Transportation Co. and the buses are pretty remarkable as you can see in the Ad.
Smart Card Prices are 10 JDs for foreigners, and 5 JDs for Jordanians. also, a Jordanian Family Pack is available for 10 JDs.
The Route of the buses around Amman are detailed HERE
An interesting amazing touristic idea had bloomed and announced just a couple of days ago in Amman.
Amman City Tour, is a 100% successful project that the GAM is starting the summer tourist season with.
Yes, we finally have city tour buses in Amman ... finally, well, the buses are not top-chopped buses like in some european cities, & well, maybe that wont work with your heat waves. but they are remarkable enough
The buses do round trips all around the ancient and modern tourist attractions around the city. continuously until 9 PM in the evening, and 6 PM in the evening during the winter.
The buses can be boarded using smart cards that are sold in tourism agencies and hotels, which are valid for 24 hours since the 1st boarding. the round trippers and can get down from the bus at any station they want, at the citadel for example, spend some time there, and then get the bus again, since they pass every 40 minutes.
The smart project is cooperated also by Mesk Tourist Transportation Co. and the buses are pretty remarkable as you can see in the Ad.
Smart Card Prices are 10 JDs for foreigners, and 5 JDs for Jordanians. also, a Jordanian Family Pack is available for 10 JDs.
The Route of the buses around Amman are detailed HERE
10 March, 2008
فيما اكد الأخ أن النقل يسير بانتظام ودون مشاكل
ضحكت الأسبوع الماضي لما شفت في جريدة الرأي المقال الآتي ...
اكد طلبة في الجامعة الهاشمية معاناتهم اليومية من خدمات النقل العام من والى الجامعة لافتين الى ان طول انتظار الحافلات وعدم انتظام الدور والتحميل الزائد وتعثر المواعيد والترددات ابرز المشاكل المتكررة التي تواجههم.
وقالوا في اتصال مع الرأي لعرض شكواهم ان خطوط النقل الى الجامعة من العاصمة والمحافظات الاخرى دائما تشهد ازمات كبيرة للنقل مؤكدين انتظارهم لاكثر من ساعة احيانا حتى تحضر الحافلات مشيرين في الوقت ذاته ان وسائط النقل لا تعمل ضمن الترددات وتبقى مصطفه حتى تمتلأ كراسيها وفي بعض الاحيان ممراتها
حتى الآن ما في إشي غريب ... أنا كنت طالب في الجامعة الهاشمية، و بعرف هذا الإشي، و بعرف إنه لسه حاليا أسواء، و شوفت هذا الإشي عدة مرات في مواقف الجامعة في رغدان و صويلح.... و لكن .... بطلعلك رئيس هيئة تنظيم الإشي، و بقلك في نفس الخبر:
......
فيما اكد مدير عام هيئة تنظيم قطاع النقل العام الدكتور هاشم المساعيد ان النقل على خطوط الجامعة يسير بانتظام ودون مشاكل مشيرا الى انه تواجد على احد خطوط الجامعة في ساعات الصباح الباكر من امس ولم يلحظ أي ازمة لنقل الركاب وكانت الحافلات تسير بانتظام
....باقي الخبر
أيش!!!!!!
الله يعين بعض الناس على حالها ، هذا اللي بقدر أحكي ... على كل، ما بدي أنشر فضايح الهيئة الجديدة في ما يخص قطار عمان الزرقاء و قصة "البطاقات الذكية"، لسه بكير
اكد طلبة في الجامعة الهاشمية معاناتهم اليومية من خدمات النقل العام من والى الجامعة لافتين الى ان طول انتظار الحافلات وعدم انتظام الدور والتحميل الزائد وتعثر المواعيد والترددات ابرز المشاكل المتكررة التي تواجههم.
وقالوا في اتصال مع الرأي لعرض شكواهم ان خطوط النقل الى الجامعة من العاصمة والمحافظات الاخرى دائما تشهد ازمات كبيرة للنقل مؤكدين انتظارهم لاكثر من ساعة احيانا حتى تحضر الحافلات مشيرين في الوقت ذاته ان وسائط النقل لا تعمل ضمن الترددات وتبقى مصطفه حتى تمتلأ كراسيها وفي بعض الاحيان ممراتها
حتى الآن ما في إشي غريب ... أنا كنت طالب في الجامعة الهاشمية، و بعرف هذا الإشي، و بعرف إنه لسه حاليا أسواء، و شوفت هذا الإشي عدة مرات في مواقف الجامعة في رغدان و صويلح.... و لكن .... بطلعلك رئيس هيئة تنظيم الإشي، و بقلك في نفس الخبر:
......
فيما اكد مدير عام هيئة تنظيم قطاع النقل العام الدكتور هاشم المساعيد ان النقل على خطوط الجامعة يسير بانتظام ودون مشاكل مشيرا الى انه تواجد على احد خطوط الجامعة في ساعات الصباح الباكر من امس ولم يلحظ أي ازمة لنقل الركاب وكانت الحافلات تسير بانتظام
....باقي الخبر
أيش!!!!!!
الله يعين بعض الناس على حالها ، هذا اللي بقدر أحكي ... على كل، ما بدي أنشر فضايح الهيئة الجديدة في ما يخص قطار عمان الزرقاء و قصة "البطاقات الذكية"، لسه بكير
22 February, 2008
تطبيقية الرؤية الملكية في ما يخص السير و النقل العام
The article was published in today's Alghad newspaper, finally... after i sent it Monday the 11th of Feb, 2008. and apprently it reached to a "no mail" email! and was resent several days ago.
Anyway, its better than Alrai who still didnt publish it, and keep ignoring me, and .... care about publishing articles about crying men more than this!
Anyway, here is the published article.
and here is the originally sent one, which happens to be amazingly exactly as the published one! Unlike some other newspapers:
Anyway, its better than Alrai who still didnt publish it, and keep ignoring me, and .... care about publishing articles about crying men more than this!
Anyway, here is the published article.
and here is the originally sent one, which happens to be amazingly exactly as the published one! Unlike some other newspapers:
جسد جلالة الملك عبدالله الثاني بن الحسين مطلباً أنسانياً في رسالته و توجيهاته للحكومة باتخاذ الإجراءات اللازمة و الصارمة للحد من حالة الجنون الحاصلة على الطرقات في الأردن، و التي يذهب ضحيتها أرواح أناسٍ من مختلف طبقات المجتمع، و أرواح مجتمعٍ منتشرٍ على مدى هذا الوطن، حتى أضحت شتى عائلات الوطن بريفه و بواديه و حضره يلتئم جرح هذه المآسي التي تتجدد يومياً. ناهيك عن الخسائر المادية التي يتكبدها الوطن يومياً بسبب هذه الحوادث، أكانت على عاتق المتضررين أنفسهم، أو على عاتق الجهات الرسمية.
وكما عودنا جلالته بإشاراته الواضحة إلى الحلول التي تمس حياة المواطنين على مدى وطننا الغالي، أتت توجيهاته بتطوير أنظمة السير و إرفاق تطبيق القوانين بصرامتها دون تهاون مع أيٍ من كان، بإدخال التكنولوجيا إلى قطاع مراقبة السير و التحكم به. كما دعا جلالته في لقائه الأسبوع الفائت مع الكادر الوزاري إلى تطوير النقل العام لجعله أكثر تنظيماً و اعتماديةً للناس، و ذلك بما يدعو إلى جعل مختلف فئات الشعب يعتمدون على النقل العام في تنقلاتهم اليومية، و تحويل هذا القطاع إلى عصب الحياة الرئيسي للمجتمع بمختلف فئاته.
يعتصرني الأسف يومياً عند رؤية أفرادٍ و مسؤولين يديرون قطاع النقل العام ويتخذون من القرارات ما يهم و يعتمد عليه هذا القطاع، و تحدد مصير مئات الآلاف من المواطنين الذين يستعملون هذا القطاع، دون أدنى علم بالكيفية التي يجب أن يدار بها القطاع، لا بل و بدون أدنى خبرة فيه بحكم عدم استخدامهم للنقل العام إطلاقاً !
يعتصرني الأسف يومياً عند رؤية أفرادٍ و مسؤولين يديرون هذا القطاع بالربح السريع و التقليد الأعمى المعتمد على تحقيق المصالح المالية الذاتية، بدلاً من إدارته بما يحقق الفائدة المجتمعية و فائدة الزبون و راحته، و هو الذي يدر بالربح على المستثمر في القطاع،و الذي يتم اعتباره على أنه شخصٌ مقيدٌ و أحمقٌ معتمدٌ على إرادة و جشع المستثمر بكل أسف .و بدلاً من العلم و التكنولوجيا، لا بل و أراهن عدم معرفتهم بوجود علمٍ قائمٍ بحد ذاته بتكنولوجيا النقل و المرور.
لقد آن الأوان بجعل جميع من هم على صلة بقطاعي النقل العام و تنظيم السير من ذوي العلم و الخبرة في هذا المجال، و أعني بذلك الخبرة العلمية الأكاديمية، و الواقعية التطبيقية القائمة على التفاعل بمن يستفيد من القطاع. كما آن الاوان الى إدخال التقنيات الحديثة في كلا القطاعين لزيادة التنظيم و الفعالية و الأمان لمستخدميه، و بما يسهل على الجهات الرقابية في دائرة السير في النقل العام على ضبط المخالفين للقوانين و التعليمات و إلحاق العقوبة الصارمة بهم.
فمن أنظمة المراقبة و السلامة على الطرقات، و التي تؤمن عبر لوائح إلكترونية تنبيه السائقين بحالة الطريق و السرعة الملائمة للقيادة عليه، اعتمادا على أجهزة المراقبة الميدانية و الدوريات الشرطية على تلك الطرقات، و المزودة بكاميرات متتالية على طول الطريق لمراقبة السرعات و أزمنة عبور المركبات، ليتم بالإمكان ضبط المركبات التي تطلبت أوقاتاً أقل للعبور بين أجزاء الطريق، و المساعدة في تحديد مواقع المركبات المطلوبة للأجهزة الأمنية. إلى أجهزة التاكوغراف الحديثة في وسائط النقل العام و التي لا يمكن للسائقين و المشغلين التلاعب بها لمخادعة رجال السير الذين يقومون بواجبهم لأجل مصلحة أولائك السائقين و المشغلين، و ضمانة الركاب في وسائط النقل التابعة لهم.
إلى تطوير النقل العام المدني و الارتقاء به إلى مستوىً يليق بالتطور الهائل في جميع المجالات التي حصلت مؤخراً في مملكتنا، أكان ذلك تطويراً في الخدمة و مستواها و شبكة انتشارها للعامة، أم في جودة وسائط النقل و حالتها التقنية، و جودة سلامتها من حيث تأثرها و ركابها بمختلف الأحوال الطارئة و الحوادث لا سمح الله، وملائمة هذه المركبات لمن يستقلها من جالسين وواقفين و مُقعدين من ناحية النظافة و المقاسات الداخلية و المواد المستعملة في أجزاء وسيطة النقل. و تجاوز ذلك إلى تطوير عملية النقل العام برمتها بتطبيق أنظمة النقل الذكية التي تنظم حركة الوسائط و جدولة مواعيدها بشكل صارم، و تراقب الحركة بشكل دقيق يضمن الإلتزام بالمسارات و خدمة الزبائن (أي الركاب المسكين في نظر الجشعين من المستثمرين في القطاع) بالشكل الأمثل، و إيجاد البدائل الملائمة في حال حدوث عطل أو طارئ أثناء الحركة. و توفير المعلومات الصحيحة و الدقيقة للمشغلين و السائقين و الركاب الذين لن يلبثوا أن يزدادوا تبعا بازدياد الثقة بالقطاع. و أخيرا، بتطوير اعتمادية وسائط النقل العام على مصادر الطاقة البديلة المتطورة بما يضمن تثبيت سعر التكلفة، وإيجاد وسائل تشجيع استخدام النقل العام كالـ Park and Ride و الـ BRT و المناطق المغلقة عن حركة السير باستثناء النقل العام في المدن، مؤديا بذلك إلى زيادة تنافسية القطاع و زيادة الإعتمادية عليه.
كل ذلك يجب أن يشكل منظومة متكاملة يجب تطبيقها من و إلى الوطن، بطاقات الوطن و عقوله و هممه بما يناسب العامة، وبما يناسب مواردنا المحدودة. و ليس بعقود مع جهات مشبوهة تنهش أموال الوطن و تصدرها إلى الخارج بلمح البصر، دونما تنفيذٍ للعهود أو تطبيق للعقود، ليبقى المواطن ضحيةً، لجشع يريد استغلاله، و مستثمر ينهب أموال ضرائبه، و مركبة تنهك صحته و سائق متهور يدمر عائلته.
نسيم التميمي*
* واحد من ثلاثة مطورين و مهندسين للبرمجيات كانوا قد قاموا في الجزء الأول من عام 2006 بتطوير مشروع جدولة و تحكم و معلومات الباصات في عمان و المعروف بإسم بيسكا.
Bus Information, Scheduling, and Control for Amman – BiSCA
nasim@project-bisca.com
17 February, 2008
13 February, 2008
صلاحيات النقل العام للركاب بين هيئة النقل وأمانة عمان أو انشاء هيئة جديدة للنقل والمرور - للمهندس عبد الستار أبو حسان
المهندس عبدالستار ابو حسان*
- يرتبط التطور الحضاري والرفاه لأية مدينة ارتباطا كليا مع خدمات النقل العام للركاب فيها، وهناك ثلاثة عوامل رئيسية تعتمد عليها التنمية المستدامة للنقل العام تتمثل بالتخطيط العمراني والحضري لاستخدامات الاراضي، وسياسات توفير مواقف للسيارات بالتوافق مع تحديد استخدام السيارات الخاصة، اضافة الى الترويج الاعلامي الجيد لمزايا استخدام النقل العام (المفترض انه موجود وجيد).
وعند اتخاذ قرار اتجاه اي جهة تتولى صلاحية التنظيم والاشراف لا بد من مناقشة مشاكل النقل العام لمعرفة من الأقدر على توفير الحلول لها. سواء كانت أمانة عمان ام هيئة النقل أو اتخاذ قرار جوهري بانشاء هيئة للنقل والمرور اسوة بدول عديدة اتخذت هذا القرار ومنها دبي مؤخرا على سبيل المثال ، فلابد من وضع بعض التحديات بعين الاعتبار ومنها كما يلي:-
* أعداد كبيرة متزايدة من الناس تعيش في المناطق الحضرية ويتوقع ان يتضاعف عدد سكان مدينة عمان حتى عام 2020 وبالتالي ستزداد المعاناة من الازدحام والحوادث والتلوث.
* الخسارة الاقتصادية الكبيرة الناتجة عن الازمات من خلال عدد الساعات الانتاجية الضائعة في الازمات المرورية، ومعاناة اقتصادية من خلال التأخير وزيادة تكاليف التسليم، ومعاناة النقل العام بسبب عدم الالتزام بالترددات والمواعيد وزيادة التلوث نتيجة وقوف السيارات لمدة طويلة في الأزمات، فضلا على نوعية الحياة التي تتاثر سلبيا على الناس الذين يعيشون بالقرب من اماكن الازدحامات.
* حركة السيارات تأخذ حيز ثمين جدا من المساحة الحضرية المتوفرة.
* مواقف السيارات تستغل مساحات مهمة من المدينة و تسبب خسارة اقتصادية كبيرة.( حيث ان 95% من عمر السيارات يضيع وهي متوقفة) وأن سيارة موظف تستوعب مساحة تساوي مساحة مكتبه وبما يعادل 20 مترا مربعا.
* خسارة المساحات المخصصة للشوارع حيث ان حافلة واحدة سعة 60 راكبا تحتاج الى 36 مترا مربعا من مساحة الطريق بينما استخدام 60 شخصا لسياراتهم الخاصة تحتاج الى حوالي 1000 متر مربع من مساحة الطريق.
* فقدان الطاقة (الوقود) بدون مبرر وزيادة التلوث حيث تشير الدراسات ان تكلفة الراكب من الوقود في السيارات الخاصة (5) اضعاف تكلفة الراكب في الحافلة. وكذلك الغازات السامة (co2) المنبعثة من السيارات تكون زيادة (3) اضعاف عن استخدام الحافلات.
* التلوث الناتج عن عوادم السيارات يدمر نوعية الحياة في مناطق الزحام.
* التلوث السمعي (الازعاج) يشكل خطورة بالغة على حياة الناس في المدينة.
* حوادث المرور والخسارة المادية والانسانية على الرغم من أن النقل العام داخل المدينة يشكل أقل نسبة حوادث خطيرة.
* ليس بمقدور جميع الناس اقتناء سيارة وخاصة بعد ارتفاع اسعار المحروقات وعليه يجب توفير وسائل نقل آمنة وسهلة الاستخدام ومريحة وذات تكلفة اقتصادية معقولة وتتماشى مع متطلبات الحياة الحديثة.
* اقتناع صاحب القرار في اعطاء الأولوية المرورية لوسائل النقل العام.
اما الحلول المقترحة لمثل هذه التحديات قد تكون:-
* التكثيف العمراني حيث انه يقلل من تكاليف رحلات النقل العام.
* التطوير العمراني بالقرب من محطات الحافلات.
* حياة المدينة تصبح مريحة وسلسة عند التخفيف من الازدحام.
* الترويج الاعلامي والتوعية لاهمية النقل العام و خلق مناطق للمشاة يساهم في تعزيز الحركة الاقتصادية .
* تحديد سياسات مشددة لوقوف السيارات في وسط المدينة يخفف الازمات المرورية. وتوفير مواقف للسيارات يعزز عملية التنفس الناتج عند ايجاد مساحات لانسياب الحركة المرورية.
* ايقاف السيارة في مواقف عامة واستخدام وسائط النقل العام و توفير محطات فرعية للباصات و أماكن وقوف عامة على أطراف المدينة.
* توفير حافلات ذات خدمة سريعة وذات اعتمادية عالية لجذب عدد من ركاب الوسائل الأخرى مثل السرفيس و التكسي و حتى السيارات الخاصة. و بالتالي اعطاء صورة محسنة عن المواصلات والتي تنعكس بالتالي على المدينة.
* اعطاء الأولوية لوسائل النقل العام (right of way) يقلل الكلف التشغيلية و يزيد الايرادات و يحسن الخدمة و يسهل على الراكب ويوفر الوقت والجهد و المال.
* توفير الحافلات ذات المنسوب المنخفض يعني سهولة الصعود و النزول وانسيابية الحركة وبالتالي توفير الوقت والجهد.
* الركوب السهل لجميع شرائح المجتمع وخاصة كبار السن والمعاقين والسيدات وعربات الأطفال مما يعني ازدياد حركة التسوق واستخدام النقل العام (داخل معظم المدن في اوروبا يمنع استخدام حافلات ذات درجات).
* تعزيز تنفيذ المزيد من التقاطعات المرورية والجسور ضرورة لتسهيل النقل العام.
* استخدام التكنولوجيا الحديثة وأنظمة معلومات الحافلات ضرورة لتعزيز خدمات المواصلات وتحسينها.
* استخدام نظام تتبع مواقع الحافلات عبر الاقمار الصناعية.
* استخدام البطاقات الذكية في تحصيل الأجور لتوفير الوقت والجهد والمال على المشغل والراكب.
* زيادة الاستخدام الفعلي لكاميرات المراقبة سواء في المجمعات او الحافلات او بعض المواقف الرئيسية يساهم في فرض الامن والامان مما ينعكس بشكل ايجابي كبير على اعداد ونفسية مستخدمي النقل العام.
* الدعم المالي واعطاء التعرفة (الاجرة) العادلة ضروري لايجاد نقل عام مستمر يفيد جميع المواطنين ليس فقط مستخدمي النقل العام.
نجاح يحقق اخر... ان مخططات استخدام اراضي ناجحة متكاملة مع سياسات مواقف سيارات بالتوافق مع تحديد استخدام السيارات الخاصة والترويج لاستخدام النقل العام الجيد يحقق التغلب على الزيادة في المرور والازدحام الناتج عن عدد السكان. وعليه فان هناك العديد من الاسباب الموجبة لارتباط النقل بأمانة عمان ومنها: 1- ارتباط النقل الوثيق بالمرور سواء من حيث البنية التحتية المتعلقة باستخدامات مسارب الشوارع والمجمعات والارصفة والشواخص والمظلات أو التحكم المروري بالاشارات الضوئية، الكاميرات... الخ .
2- ارتباط النقل بالتخطيط الحضري والعمراني لاستخدامات الاراضي.
3- النقل بحاجة الى دعم مادي وفني وبالتالي يجب ان يتبع لمؤسسة مستقلة ماليا وقادرة على هذا الدعم. 4- سهولة المراقبة والاشراف والتنظيم بالمقارنة مع اية جهة اخرى تغطي جميع مناطق المملكة.
واذا ما ذهبنا الى ابعد من ذلك واردنا ان نستبق الزمن بهذا الخصوص لا بد من التحضير منذ الان لانشاء هيئة جديدة تعنى بالنقل والمرور.
* نائب رئيس الاتحاد العالمي للمواصلات العامة (UITP).
[Source]
نعم ... هذا الكلام السليم، لقد قال المهندس عبد الستار في هذا المقال كل ما هو صحيح، و ما أنا مقتنع به عن واقع النقل العام و السير في العاصمة عمان.
شكراً سيد عبد الستار
25 November, 2007
النقل العام المدني في عمان.. أسوأ من أي وقت مضى؟؟
قد لا يكون فعلياً أسوأ من أي وقت مضى، و لكنه أسوأ !! أسوأ من المفروض، أسوأ من الماضي القريب، و أسوأ في وقت حرج يستلزم أن يكون القطاع في مرحلة تطور.
الغريب و المثير في الموضوع أن أساس هذا التراجع يأتي من جهات من المفترض بها أن تكون أساس لتطور النقل العام المدني في مدينة عمان، و خاصة في هذه الفترة. و قد يرى السائق لسيارته أن الوضع على غير حقيقته بحكم أن كل ما يراه إعلاميا هو نظريا جيد!
لن أقوم بالتنظير، و إنما سأقوم بطرح أمثلة و ملاحظات من الواقع.
الجهة التي يدور حولها تطور قطاع النقل العام في العاصمة هي بالتأكيد الشركة المتكاملة للنقل، والتي كما ذكرت منذ أمد قريب، و كما لم يتسنى لي الذكر، أنها ماضية في فتح خطوط جديدة،و أن بعضها سيكون ذا جدوى لسكان المناطق التي يمر بها، و زيادة عدد الباصات في أسطولها، بغض النظر عن التأخيرات المتعددة التي حدثت و ما زالت تحدث.
ولكن لنرى ما يحدث في الواقع بعد سنة من استيلاء الشركة على النقل العام في العاصمة:
من الملاحظ، و بشكل واضح جدا، الوضع التقني السيء الذي أضحت فيه الباصات، و بخاصة باصات جوهرة التاج في المتكاملة، و التي هي الباصات التي كانت سابقا تتبع لشركة أسيا للنقل (باصات الدايو و باصات المرسيدس لذوي الإحتياجات الخاصة). باعتبار أن باصات الظلال و التوفيق كانت إجمالاً في وضع لا تحسد عليه. بل و حتى هذه أصبح وضعها التقني أسواء، و أصبح من الإعتيادي جدا تعطلها أثناء حركتها.
باص رقم 52 – من باصات شركة آسيا سابقا – كان يسير يوم الجمعة 9-11-2007 على خط 42 الساعة 9 مساءً بدون أنارة أمامية ، ولا خلفية، و لا داخلية!!! و شاشة الخط طبعا لا أثر لها. كان في الباص ما يزيد عن 30 شخص!!!!
معظم الباصات الكبيرة العاملة تحوي شاشة إلكترونية تبين خط الباص و رقم الخط. و لكن .....
أحيانا يتم تشغيلها (غالبا على خطوط رقم 42، 26، 27، 46، 52، 16) و أحيانا كثيرة أخرى لا يتم تشغيلها، أو تبين خطا غير الذي يعمل عليها الباص. و حتى الباصات الجديدة (و التي لدي انتقاد كبير على شاشات الخطوط فيها) أصبحت في الغالب تسير بشاشات مطفأه، أو تبين خطا ولا إلو دخل !!!!! و طبعا، البديل قد يكون ورقة مكتوب عليها بخط يد أسواء من خطي في الصف الثالث، و قد تكون الورقة مطوية، أو مكتوبة بلون باهت، أو حتى تكون مبينة للمكان الذي أتى منه الباص .. أو مرة أخرى .. و لا إلو دخل. أو تجد ان الخط موضوع على ملصق على واجهة الباص، و طبعا عليك أن تقوم بعملية التنجيم في حال كان الباص يعمل على خط غير الملصق!فمثلا، قامت الشركة باستحداث خط الجامعة الأردنية – وادي السير، و وضعت عليه باصات كانت تعمل على خط الدائري الغربي. بعد ان حولت الدائري الغربي إلى خط إلتفافي بين الدوار الثامن إلى صويلح عبر شارع المدين المنورة و بالعكس! بحكم ان خط الجامعة الأردنية – وادي السير سيمر من شارع المدينة الطبية، و بدون أن تقوم إعلام الناس بأي و سيلة كما ذكرت سابقا! بل و حتى الباصات على خط الجامعة الأردنية – وادي السير كان و ما زال عليها الملصق الذي يبين أنها تعمل على الدائري الغربي، و وضعت ملصق صغير لخط الجامعة الأردنية – وادي السير على طرفه!!!!!!
مؤخرا، أعادت الشركة خط الدائري الغربي إلتفافيا باتجاهين كما كان عليه سابقا. طبعا حدث ذلك مرة أخرى في يوم و ليلة كما تم تغييره أول مرة. المهم عاد الخط دائريا، و عادت فوائد ذلك لمستخدميه، خاصة أن باص الجامعة الأردنية – وادي السير كان يظهر في المناسبات! و ما زال
حتى إني لاحظت عدة مرات ملصقات لخطوط ملصقة على الباصات الكبيرة فوق الشاشة الإلكترونية مع أنها كانت تعمل !!!!!!!!
شاهدت إحدى باصات المتكاملة الجديدة أمام البوابة الرئيسية للجامعة الأردنية و عليها ورقة مكتوب عليها (الزرقا الاتستراد) و بالفعل كان متجه إلى الزرقاء.
استقل زميلي فايز قبل اسبوعان إحدى باصات المتكاملة بعد الساعة 7 مساءاً من أمام مستشفى الجامعة باتجاه رغدان (أو على الأقل هكذا كان مأمولاً) كان في الباص سائقه و مراقب الشركة المتكاملة. و كانا متحيران بالذهاب نحو رغدان أو تقاطع الحرمين !!!!!!!فقالا للركاب: (ياللا، بنروح عالكيلو و رغدان، و إذا بدكوا عالزرقا كمان!!!) و فعلاً كان مسار الباص: مستشفى الجامعة – شارع المدينة المنورة – تقاطع الحرمين – رجوعاً إلى تقاطع اليوبيل – شارع وصفي التل – المدينة الرياضية – الداخلية – العبدلي – وسط البلد – رغدان. زمن الرحلة ساعة و 45 دقيقة!
استقلت والدتي يوم الأربعاء 21 – 11– 2007 الماضي في عز الظهيرة باص الدائري الغربي من موقفه في الدوار الثامن باتجاه شارع المدينة الطبية – صويلح – الجامعة الأردنية. حيث كان الباص متوقفا كعادته على افتراض أن يغادر على موعده. و كان في الباص ما يزيد عن العشرة ركاب، اما سائقه بالإضافة إلى المراقب و السائقين الآخرين كانوا مشغوليين بالسواليف و الأكل!!! استمر المظهر ما يزيد عن 15 دقيقة، إلا أن أتى باص آخر و طلب من الركاب التحول إليه. أما هذا الباص الآخر فقد قرر أن يتخلص من الأزمة و يتحول من مساره عبر شارع المدينة الطبية إلى صويلح و استعاض عنه بالمسار الآتي: الدوار الثامن – من إشارة ضاحية الأمير راشد يمينا – داخل ضاحية الأمير راشد – مجمع جبر – إلتفافا و نزولاً في شارع مكة – الدخول يمينا من شار مكة إلى الشارع الخلفي بين مكة مول و سيتي مول – دوار مدرسة المونتيسوري في خلدا يسارا – دوار خلدا – صويلح !!!!!!!!!! و طز بالراكب اللي صاللوا ساعة بستنى الباص بنص شارع المدينة الطبية بنص هالشتا!!!!!
من المشاهد المؤسفة هو أن الباصات لم تعد تتحرك بترددات معينة على الخطوط التي كانت الحركة فيها معتمدة على جدول زمني و ترددات محددة. فباص الدائري الغربي مثلا ام يعد ينطلق و يمر كل ربع ساعة كما هو جدوله. و حتى الخطوط (المثلى) كما أحب تسميتها كخط 42 و 43 و 26 و 54 لم تعد الحركة فيها محددة كما كانت، بالرغم من أنه ما زال قريباً على ذلك، و لكن بمزاجية عالية!
أغلب الخطوط الجديدة تنعدم فيها الباصات بعد غروب الشمس غالباً!!!!! هذا عدا عن أن بعض الخطوط أشبه ما تكون "كما يسمى بالعامية: دوام وزراء".. فمثلاً خط 15 الجديد: رغدان – صويلح، يأتي في أول باص الساعة 9 صباحا!!! و من المستحيل ان تجد باص بعد الساعة 5 مساءً !!!! هذا عدا أن الباص يظهر كل 20-30 دقيقة... طبعا ستشكي الشركة المتكاملة من قلة وجود ركاب عليه!!! مين بدو يطلع عالساعة 9 !!!؟ ناهيك عن أنه في العديد من المرات لا يصل إلى نهاية خطه في دوار الكمالية، و إنما يقوم بالدوران من دوار صويلح.
و موضوع عدم الوصول إلى نهاية الخط و عدم الإلتزام بالمسار قصة بأكملها على بعض الخطوط.
من المضحك المبكي رؤية أن السائقين يعتمدون على وسائط نقل أخرى للوصول إلى أعمالهم كسائقين! بل و يدفعون ذلك من حسابهم الخاص!
و أخيراً، ما لوحظ من تناقض يوم الإنتخابات النيابية، حين ذكرت هيئة تنظيم النقل العام:
وأكد مدير عام هيئة تنظيم قطاع النقل العام الدكتور هاشم المساعيد ان الهيئة اتخذت الاستعدادات لضمان وصول اكبر
عدد ممكن من الناخبين إلى صناديق الاقتراع مشيرا الى ان الهيئة عملت بالتنسيق مع مديرية الامن العام حول هذا الموضوع لعدم مخالفة أي حافلة أو واسطة نقل عملت على تغيير الاتجاه .
وأوضح ان الهيئة عززت عدد المراقبين المنتشرين في جميع المجمعات لسير العملية على أكمل وجه مشيرا الى ان الهيئة وضعت في حسبانها الازمات على الخطوط خاصة وان بعض الحافلات او وسائط النقل تم حجزها من قبل المرشحين لنقل ناخبيهم الى صناديق الاقتراع
بينما على أرض الواقع كانت الأمور تختلف حيث كانت الباصات نادرة الظهور في عمان – و معدودة في المحافظات (أكانت الباصات الأهلية أو التابعة للمتكاملة، حيث ان عدد كبير من باصات المتكاملة تم تأجيرها، بالرغم من بقاء عدد منها يعمل)، حتى إني رأيت ما يزيد عن 60-70 مواطن ينتظرون الباص في على موقف أول شارع المدينة الطبية في صويلح في 5 فترات مختلفة يوم الإقتراع! و كانت الباصات تأتي كل 15-20 دقيقة.
الوضع سيئ! لم أسمع في حياتي أحد يدعي (آخ! يا رب، متى راح أشتري سيارة و أخلص من هالقرف)، و لكني سمعتها ما يزيد عن 10 مرات خلال هذا الشهر من أناس أعرفهم آخرون لا أعرفهم!
هذه دعوة لأصحاب القرار لجولة يوم كامل مدفوع الأجر في ربوع النقل العام المدني في العاصمة، و على حسابي!
02 October, 2007
PRAGUE!
Well, for those who don't know, I wasn't in town during the 1st half of September, I was on vacation to Romania, as well as a business trip to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.
And since i have other posts across my blog about Romania in the archives, lets go and Czech out baby :)
My non-business related business in prague was actually related to Project BiSCA, me and my other 2 colleagues, ehab and fayez participated in a conference entitled “Transtec”, this is an international conference that cares about the evolution of transportation technologies in general, including green cars, human machine interaction, intelligent traffic system, or intelligent transportation systems. And Transtec 2007 was in prague, and BiSCA was a participant in there with a paper entitled by the name of the project “Bus Information, Scheduling, and Control for Amman”. Representing by that Jordan and the entire MENA region
So after a lot of calls, emails, faxes, and whatever you want, in order to get a sponsor for our participation in Prague's Transtec 2007, no body here in Jordan dared to help us, actually, all of our attempts to get sponsorship were completely ignored, and we are talking about big organizations that you read day by day publicity about them and their activities in the media ... yes, they didn't even dare to say “NO”, or “SORRY” .... well except for 1 organization that said they cannot help us since we are not an NGO, and 2 that supposedly tried, and then apologized. So there it was, I got my vacation hooked up with the conference, and did both with my own money.
1st of all, talking about the conference, it was amazing to see how research and development is that well established in some part of the world that is not that far from here! Nor from Romania.
A lot of czech companies, just like AZD Praha, Skoda motors, and others, as well as international companies working in the czech republic, like Sun Microsystems, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Novell, Siemens, and other. Are so cooperative with the technical and technological universities and their students. Not only as supporters and sponsors for the students, but even appreciators for their ideas in the industry, and even trying to involve their research and development departments to cooperate with the students after graduation and with the universities from which they graduated to implement it in the industry.
And By the way, this care of research and development I saw in the Czech republic is claimed to be “POOR”! Come and see Jordan baby...!
one very simple example was that the Traffic light management systems on the streets of Prague is nothing but an implemented university project. One that was well supported by companies in the industry, the local authorities, and even the European Union and Galileo.
The number of people in the conference weren't that much, but the quality of the participants was very high, actually, I was the youngest in there, and we were the only participants with a BS degree! And beside being from the middle east, all of there 3 were positive impressions for the people getting to know about us.
One thing that, I didn't expect, was that each and every person who heard about our project or attend the session was “Impressed”, one Japanese professor was even wondering how come this idea is not appreciated that much in Jordan, when a public transportation operator in his home-town in Japan is willing to apply such a system with all the ideas and services we provide in BiSCA, and is having trouble having someone developing it! Some people from Mott MacDonald were even interested in being consultants for the project's implementation in Amman, and even in being consultants in further related project as traffic management systems and their integration with BiSCA. Do read this GAM, do read this PTRC, do read this CMTC .... Mott MacDonald, the 2nd largest consultants house in the world!
Our paper can be found in the conference's proceeding HERE
Talking about Prague, well, I liked the czech republic in general, though all my pass from the Slovakian borders until prague was a night drive through were i saw nothing :P
Prague, 7:30 AM local time, on the autobahn between Brno and Prague, I look to the left, Oh, its a business companies compound, who is there, Sun Microsystems, Samsung, IBM, Microsoft ... and others...
Yes, you heard me right dear Java Developer, Sun Microsystems :)
well, they also have Oracle, but thats somewhere downtown nearby the Bus and train terminals, I passed by it too ...
and by the way, Oracle has ads on the streets in Prague, seems people out there know whats Oracle, and know what's a CRM :)
in Prague, Public transportation is everywhere ... tram, urban buses, metro....
in Prague, there are cool radio station's :) especially Radio Beat (which is a classic rock radio), and Radio Expres (Prague's Nr 1 Hit music station with a popular American dude doing the morning show in weekdays).
in Prague, love is everywhere, in everything ... people love life, love what they do, love the traffic jams, love listening to that American dude on the radio during the traffic jam, love work ... Yes, I didnt see a single person asking for money! Everyone works, even disabled people, even blind old women ... they sing opera songs on the street ... but they dont beg you for money!
in Prague, women are gorgeous, men are hard-workers, Czech women are not demanding though like our shitty women in here! 2 examples were the following:
a guy, a colleague student, was working a part time job as a “Street sweeper” ... I saw 2 girls trying to hookup with him.
A Man standing in the street as a silent actor, wasn't moving and doing anything, unless you pay him something in that hat. Well, a bunch of czech chicks passed, so he moved “for free” for them trying to get their attention, the girls stopped and started looking and what he is doing... he was kind of “silently acting flirts” ... they became all red flushed, and he air-kissed one girl ... she turned into 250 shades of red :)
i'm just wondering what would have happened to any of those guys above if they were in Jordan .... I'm imagining :(
in Prague, the industry is very well developed, be it technological industry, technical industry, or tourism industry! Jordanian people in tourism, GO AND LEARN! A bus ticket from the deadsea to Amman cannot cost 10 JDs if you want a proper tourism industry!
In Prague, the valtava is awesome ... it carries out the city's love and spreads it out across the town.
In prague, you can see all sort of people getting into public transportation, from business managers, to professors, to students ,, and even couple who keep kissing for over 20 minutes without anyone annoying them or even looking at them (in comparison to the next day where in Amman I saw 4 guys staring at 2 normally dressed girls and saying “Allahomma inni sa2em .. astaghfar allah!) .... and all of those above get into public transportation without having to wait that much, nor fight for a seat (because you will get a fine if you get your butt unto a seat while a child or an old man or woman is standing), nor have their clothes dirty from the seats (in case seated) , nor get confused because the bus or tram is running on a route other than the one displayed on the digital (or even manual) board in front of the public transportation mean ... simply because its not that of an invention to change the board displaying the route for the people outside!
in Prague, they have worst traffic jams than in Amman, amazingly, no body there uses the horn! I guess they figured out it wont get to progress anything in the jam.
In Prague, all the governmental departments are branded.
In prague, garnet can be found more than bread.
In prague, all sorts of bread are delicious :)
in prague, food is delicious :)
in Prague ... I fell in love with a city.
In Prague, i'll be spending my honeymoon one day :) [no more Maldives :P ]
in Prague, I left a piece of me ...... and i will get back to put another piece!
The Old Chapel
The Astronomical Clock (It works!)
Karlov Most (King Charles Bridge)
Karlov Most from the opposite view, including the king's castle up the hill to the right ... by the way, I used to pass this bridge around 4 times a day :) It is one of the 1st things I fell in love with in Prague :)
And since i have other posts across my blog about Romania in the archives, lets go and Czech out baby :)
My non-business related business in prague was actually related to Project BiSCA, me and my other 2 colleagues, ehab and fayez participated in a conference entitled “Transtec”, this is an international conference that cares about the evolution of transportation technologies in general, including green cars, human machine interaction, intelligent traffic system, or intelligent transportation systems. And Transtec 2007 was in prague, and BiSCA was a participant in there with a paper entitled by the name of the project “Bus Information, Scheduling, and Control for Amman”. Representing by that Jordan and the entire MENA region
So after a lot of calls, emails, faxes, and whatever you want, in order to get a sponsor for our participation in Prague's Transtec 2007, no body here in Jordan dared to help us, actually, all of our attempts to get sponsorship were completely ignored, and we are talking about big organizations that you read day by day publicity about them and their activities in the media ... yes, they didn't even dare to say “NO”, or “SORRY” .... well except for 1 organization that said they cannot help us since we are not an NGO, and 2 that supposedly tried, and then apologized. So there it was, I got my vacation hooked up with the conference, and did both with my own money.
1st of all, talking about the conference, it was amazing to see how research and development is that well established in some part of the world that is not that far from here! Nor from Romania.
A lot of czech companies, just like AZD Praha, Skoda motors, and others, as well as international companies working in the czech republic, like Sun Microsystems, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Novell, Siemens, and other. Are so cooperative with the technical and technological universities and their students. Not only as supporters and sponsors for the students, but even appreciators for their ideas in the industry, and even trying to involve their research and development departments to cooperate with the students after graduation and with the universities from which they graduated to implement it in the industry.
And By the way, this care of research and development I saw in the Czech republic is claimed to be “POOR”! Come and see Jordan baby...!
one very simple example was that the Traffic light management systems on the streets of Prague is nothing but an implemented university project. One that was well supported by companies in the industry, the local authorities, and even the European Union and Galileo.
The number of people in the conference weren't that much, but the quality of the participants was very high, actually, I was the youngest in there, and we were the only participants with a BS degree! And beside being from the middle east, all of there 3 were positive impressions for the people getting to know about us.
One thing that, I didn't expect, was that each and every person who heard about our project or attend the session was “Impressed”, one Japanese professor was even wondering how come this idea is not appreciated that much in Jordan, when a public transportation operator in his home-town in Japan is willing to apply such a system with all the ideas and services we provide in BiSCA, and is having trouble having someone developing it! Some people from Mott MacDonald were even interested in being consultants for the project's implementation in Amman, and even in being consultants in further related project as traffic management systems and their integration with BiSCA. Do read this GAM, do read this PTRC, do read this CMTC .... Mott MacDonald, the 2nd largest consultants house in the world!
Our paper can be found in the conference's proceeding HERE
Talking about Prague, well, I liked the czech republic in general, though all my pass from the Slovakian borders until prague was a night drive through were i saw nothing :P
Prague, 7:30 AM local time, on the autobahn between Brno and Prague, I look to the left, Oh, its a business companies compound, who is there, Sun Microsystems, Samsung, IBM, Microsoft ... and others...
Yes, you heard me right dear Java Developer, Sun Microsystems :)
well, they also have Oracle, but thats somewhere downtown nearby the Bus and train terminals, I passed by it too ...
and by the way, Oracle has ads on the streets in Prague, seems people out there know whats Oracle, and know what's a CRM :)
in Prague, Public transportation is everywhere ... tram, urban buses, metro....
in Prague, there are cool radio station's :) especially Radio Beat (which is a classic rock radio), and Radio Expres (Prague's Nr 1 Hit music station with a popular American dude doing the morning show in weekdays).
in Prague, love is everywhere, in everything ... people love life, love what they do, love the traffic jams, love listening to that American dude on the radio during the traffic jam, love work ... Yes, I didnt see a single person asking for money! Everyone works, even disabled people, even blind old women ... they sing opera songs on the street ... but they dont beg you for money!
in Prague, women are gorgeous, men are hard-workers, Czech women are not demanding though like our shitty women in here! 2 examples were the following:
a guy, a colleague student, was working a part time job as a “Street sweeper” ... I saw 2 girls trying to hookup with him.
A Man standing in the street as a silent actor, wasn't moving and doing anything, unless you pay him something in that hat. Well, a bunch of czech chicks passed, so he moved “for free” for them trying to get their attention, the girls stopped and started looking and what he is doing... he was kind of “silently acting flirts” ... they became all red flushed, and he air-kissed one girl ... she turned into 250 shades of red :)
i'm just wondering what would have happened to any of those guys above if they were in Jordan .... I'm imagining :(
in Prague, the industry is very well developed, be it technological industry, technical industry, or tourism industry! Jordanian people in tourism, GO AND LEARN! A bus ticket from the deadsea to Amman cannot cost 10 JDs if you want a proper tourism industry!
In Prague, the valtava is awesome ... it carries out the city's love and spreads it out across the town.
In prague, you can see all sort of people getting into public transportation, from business managers, to professors, to students ,, and even couple who keep kissing for over 20 minutes without anyone annoying them or even looking at them (in comparison to the next day where in Amman I saw 4 guys staring at 2 normally dressed girls and saying “Allahomma inni sa2em .. astaghfar allah!) .... and all of those above get into public transportation without having to wait that much, nor fight for a seat (because you will get a fine if you get your butt unto a seat while a child or an old man or woman is standing), nor have their clothes dirty from the seats (in case seated) , nor get confused because the bus or tram is running on a route other than the one displayed on the digital (or even manual) board in front of the public transportation mean ... simply because its not that of an invention to change the board displaying the route for the people outside!
in Prague, they have worst traffic jams than in Amman, amazingly, no body there uses the horn! I guess they figured out it wont get to progress anything in the jam.
In Prague, all the governmental departments are branded.
In prague, garnet can be found more than bread.
In prague, all sorts of bread are delicious :)
in prague, food is delicious :)
in Prague ... I fell in love with a city.
In Prague, i'll be spending my honeymoon one day :) [no more Maldives :P ]
in Prague, I left a piece of me ...... and i will get back to put another piece!
The Valtava river
The Old Chapel
The Astronomical Clock (It works!)
Karlov Most (King Charles Bridge)
Karlov Most from the opposite view, including the king's castle up the hill to the right ... by the way, I used to pass this bridge around 4 times a day :) It is one of the 1st things I fell in love with in Prague :)
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