Azerbaijan, Baku /corr. Trend A.Badalova / The Chief of the Azerbaijani Transport Ministry's Department for Transport Policy and Economy, Sadraddin Mammadov, said on 13 November that the process of realizing a modern intellectual transport management system will begin in 2008.
The company Korean Daewoo delivered 68 buses to Azerbaijan. 132 more buses will be delivered to Baku by the end of January. The delivery of 200 buses produced by Daewoo was implemented according to a contract with the Azerbaijani Company Trans Geyt. The contract was signed in February in Baku.
According to Mammadov, a special block will be installed in the buses to connect them to the electron management system. With the help of this system, each bus will be observed and managed from the center. In addition, the drivers will be able to control the time between buses. An electronic board will be installed at each bus stop to show the times of the buses. In the future, devices will be installed to determine the exact number of the passengers on the bus. In addition to cash payment, a card system will be applied on the buses.
Mammadov said that talks are being held with the company German Mercedes and other companies to improve taxi and bus parks.
According to Namik Hasanov, the Head of the Secretary at the Transport Ministry, each new bus will replace five mini-buses. After the launch of these buses, the mini buses, particularly, those which do not meet standards, will be withdrawn from the routes. According to him, the price of the new buses amount to $62.000 and $65.000. The cost of 200 buses has already been paid to the Korean Company.
The carrying capacity of each bus is approximately 60 people.