BRIEFS. transportation

First bus turned over to ATTT officials

eric batista/la prensa

turned over: The first “diablo rojo” is turned over to the government, with its owner getting a $25,000 check.1144020

Residents of Las Mañanitas will have slightly fewer options for their public transportation needs until the government's overhaul of the system is complete.

That's because the owner of bus 8B-1352 became the first person to hand over his “diablo rojo” to the government in exchange for a $25,000 check.

The government is planning to replace the privately-owned buses with a fleet of modern, more efficient ones. These buses would adhere to a set schedule and, presumably, be kept in better operating condition.

But the government admitted yesterday that it does not yet have a solid plan in place for overseeing the transition from a privately-run system to a public one.

The ATTT, the government's transportation authority, is working on that plan. Government spokesman José Hernández said an administrative model is being developed to determine how the old buses will be used until the 420 new buses are ready to go.

The government plans to award a bid for those buses on Jan. 15, and the winning company would then have 180 days to deliver them.

Hernández said that, in a best case scenario, the owners of the buses will turn them over to the government in an orderly fashion.“It would be worse if they had turned over all of the buses of the system at the same time,” he said.

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