The improvement of transportation in Yemen [Archives:2004/780/Local News]

The trend of the World is to modernization, develop and improve in many of areas of life in which we, in particular, are still backward. In fact many things related to peoples daily affairs provide a natural and spontaneous glimpse of people's living standards. Every country attempts to present best picture of itself to its people regarding its level and its development. Therefore, many countries attempt to replace the 'old' with the 'new', and demand ever improving services for their citizens, in the name of looking after their interests.
If we look to the type of taxi cars (whether the smaller or the larger ones) working nowadays, especially in some areas or governorates, we will find out that many of them are very old ones. In addition, many look like falling short of the simplest safety standards aside from not providing any kind of comfort to the passenger. It is perhaps an embarrassment to this country's efforts to secure the comfort of its citizens and visitors.
By these comments, I don't mean that all the taxi cabs should be replaced right away from tomorrow, in one lot. But, I do mean that a certain period of time should be allotted for such a purpose, and enforced by the state. We do need to replace taxi cabs, as a whole, within a certain period of time, limited in years if not months. We should start with those which are working at airports, and then those which are working on the internal routes in towns and among governorates. Furthermore, the government should stop granting new licenses to old cars, as per is adopted in many other countries which have banished better cars than we use!
Furthermore, there should be a periodic check upon the granting or renewal of driving licenses for such types of cars, and stipulations that ensure the passenger's safety and comfort.
What has prompted me to write about such a subject is that many car drivers or taxi owners add additional seats (with no regard for passenger safety or comfort) to guarantee transporting a larger number of passengers, and there is no control over such matters by the concerned authorities. Additionally, some routes are crowded by taxis while some other routes and areas are lacking taxi services. As a result, in some cases, citizens find themselves compelled to hire private cars despite their inability to afford the costs. The Taxis Union have promised to provide taxi cabs for deprived routes, and also have addressed the Traffic Department to cooperate with them in this matter, so as to solve this problem. We hope that their efforts are ceaseless, as the citizens are in need of such necessary services.
——
[archive-e:780-v:13-y:2004-d:2004-10-11-p:ln]