transportation

Torrijos catches bus flack

Jorge Fernández/la prensa

outdated:President Martín Torrijos has been attacked by political rivals for his failure to address the country’s public transportation problems. While the current system is dangerous and inefficient, Torrijos says an affordable alternative has not been found.1004322

President Martín Torrijos finds himself facing increasing criticism for his failure to address the country's public transportation problems.

Yesterday, after participating in the Founding Congress of the Confederación Sindical de Trabajadores de las Américas (CSA), the president said that his government has a plan to modernize the mass transit system, but that it needs additional resources to make it a reality.

Torrijos said that his measures, including increasing safety standards, will take a huge amount of money to implement.

"Unfortunately, unlike previous governments, I am not accustomed to announcing projects without having the resources to implement them," he said.

The president rejected the notion of increasing fares to pay for an upgrade, and instead said he is looking for an economically feasible solution.

Juan Carlos Varela, president of the Panameñista party and a likely presidential candidate, said that the government lacks the will to act.

"We cannot have the consuls earning thousands of dollars when there are other issues, such as transport, which require urgent attention," he said, referring to high-paying government jobs which are often doled out as political favors.

Unión Patriótica President Guillermo Ford was also critical.

"What the president is doing is unjust and inhumane," he said.

Movimiento Liberal Nacional Republicano Chairman Sergio González Ruíz called the country's transportation system "a total disaster."

The system, which relies on used school buses commonly called "diablos rojos," has been criticized because of the large number of accidents that the vehicles have been involved in. People often have to ride them for several hours during their daily commute.

The Asociación Panameña de Ejecutivos de Empresas is planning to hold a discussion about the transportation problems at its headquarters at noon today.