SPTC plans to make the Victoria bus terminal more user-friendly

The local bus company has announced plans to install new facilities at the Victoria bus terminal and New Port depot to further upgrade its services.

Speaking to the press this week, the managing director of the Seychelles Public Transport Corporation (SPTC), Mr Daniel Gappy, said the company had a number of projects in the pipeline which, along with the new batch of buses it is receiving and the scheme of service for drivers now being successfully implemented, would help enhance SPTC's public image and credibility as a whole.

One of projects is a plan to install a bus washing machine facility at the depot. Mr Gappy said SPTC had already identified a supplier for the machine to be set up at a cost of about R1 million. The installation of the bus washing machine is expected to be completed by end of this year.

In the meantime, the contract to wash SPTC buses at the Anse Aux Pins and Baie Lazare depots has been awarded to a number of companies and by next week SPTC will finalise a deal for the washing of buses at the New Port depot. This move, Mr Gappy said, was part of measures to add to the comfort of members of the public by giving them cleaner buses to travel in.

Mr Gappy is also inviting establishments or organisations such as SMB, Airtel, Cable & Wireless and the Ministry of Health or others seeking to advertise their services, products or educational programmes to a wider public, to use the rear of the new Ashok Leyland buses to do so. This offer, he said, would help the company generate some revenues which it could later use to import more buses.

SPTC has also announced plans to render the terminal more user-friendly by setting up a control tower with PABX voice system to announce important messages that can be very useful for tourists. The plan for this project has already received government approval.

By the end of this year commuters will also note a difference in the size of the destination boards at the terminal. Mr Gappy said there was a necessity to make the information on the boards more visible to render it easier for tourists and first-time users to find the stations they are looking for. 

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