Bahrain Public Transport Company sets ridership record

Manama, Oct. 3 (BNA): Bus ridership reached all-time highs over the Eid Al Adha holiday, according to official statistics released by the Ministry of Transportation and Telecommunications (MTT) Land Transport Affairs. A significant increase in the use of public transport buses was recorded, most notably on the first day of Eid Al Adha, when bus ridership reached 47,000 passengers. Undersecretary for Land Transport and Post Affairs at MTT, Mariam Ahmed Jumaan, said "We are very pleased to see these numbers coming in, as they are strong indicators of passenger demand and the quality of service that the new public transport system is now offering. "Since we launched the new operation with Bahrain Public Transport Company (BPTC) in February, we have had a total of more than three million riders to date. The operator has been serving around 23,046 riders on average per day since August 2015, and ridership continues to grow," added. She said that MTT is working in close partnership with Bahrain Public Transport Company (BPTC) to provide all necessary support to ensure the service’s excellence, by supporting marketing and promotional efforts, as well as helping to spread awareness about the benefits of using public transport. "The newly introduced smart prepaid GO card,has proved to be quite a success so far, as it offers riders affordable competitive prices, enabling users to buy and top-up the cards in advance and reusing them instead of buying paper tickets each time they ride. This has made journeys more efficient and enjoyable for passengers," she said.