transportation

Bus bids delayed

The ATTT needs time to change the bid specifications for the vehicles.

la prensa

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Government transportation agency ATTT has pushed back the date for bids to be submitted to provide the 420 buses that are a key component of the upgraded public transportation system.

The bidding process was delayed because the ATTT has not yet made public the changes to the original specifications.

ATTT officials estimated that the changes will be published as early as today, and that a new date for the bids to be submitted will be set before the end of the month.

The process was delayed after representatives of Panama's automobile industry presented the agency with a list of problems they encountered with the original parameters issued by the ATTT.

They also requested that the process be delayed so that the factories had time to prepare bids that would meet the government's specifications.

They are also asking the government to push back the deadline for completing the work from 180 days to 270 days. In the letter, they said this would allow the government to receive a better product.

Meanwhile, ATTT Director Heraclio Batista said that this month the agency will release the amount that the agency plans to spend purchasing “diablo rojos” from their owners.

He said that, so far, the agency has purchased eight of the ten buses that have passed inspections. Those buses have come from the Mañanitas, Veranillo and Torrijos Carter routes. Batista said that the agency plans on paying owners $25,000 for the buses that pass a government inspection.

The government announced the upgrades to the public transportation system last year. The long-called for reforms will replace the aging, privately-owned buses with modern ones that will be operated by the government.

This change is expected to make the transportation more reliable and much safer.

There have been numerous accidents over the last several years involving the diablo rojos, including one incident in which numerous people were killed when they were trapped inside a burning bus that did not have a working emergency exit.

The government is already training drivers who will operate the new buses, which will run on set timetables instead of the current system, which is not regulated.

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