EDITORIAL: More buses, green buses?

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The Greens Party of Cyprus praised Finance Minister Michael Sarris for appealing to the public to save on fuel by sharing cars or avoiding excessive driving in order to counter the galloping rise of oil prices.

The environmentalists rightly took their argument one step further and challenged the Ministry of Finance to consider a bus shuttle service that would collect staff from various points of town in order to prevent them driving in and congesting the roads, emitting fumes and filling up all vacant parking lots, creating further jams to others struggling to find a spot.

Unfortunately for the Greens this was a poorly planned response to the ongoing debate on the absence of a proper public transport system and the effects on safety and the economy in general.

The Greens seem to suffer from the same political disease as every other common group in Cyprus – if you have a bright idea, get somebody else to do it for you.

Asking for more financial aid for the bus companies is like throwing more money into a black hole – the subsidies will never get people on the buses, unless these are efficient, run on time and serve a city-wide grid to accommodate the movement of people to and from work and school or even for shopping and leisure.

With the exception of Paphos, where the bus network runs (efficiently we might add), along the coastal road, all other towns need a central bus depot and routes that will cross from one nighbourhood to the other.

To introduce more fuel-efficient buses, as the Minister of Transport naively declared in a radio show, will not solve the problem. This must come hand in hand with new bus lanes, fast services so as not to clog up the overly congested urban road network, and greater subsidies for hybrid or electric vehicles. The recall of gas-guzzlers is a right step, but more can be done. And we would expect the Greens to come up with all the bright ideas.

The party’s solo MP has on several occasions been seen to ride a bicycle and recently even endorsed the use of electric inner-city compact cars. Why, then does Mr. Perdikis and all the Greens not cycle to work, or use the public bus system (if they will risk it) or organize a car pooling network in every neighbourhood?

Instead of appealing to other, the party should show its true green colours and take the initiative, not only for now, leading up to the presidential elections, but for the long-term. They should lead the way and give the good example for us to follow.

That’s how you help keep the country clean and earn votes at the same…