Public transport to get US$28.4mn boost

Some US$28.4mn in federal and state funds have been allocated to improve Puerto Rico's public transport service, El Nuevo Dia quoted the island's metropolitan bus authority (AMA) president Adaline Torres as saying. The funds will go towards the purchase of buses, improving stops and transfer stations, as well as rehabilitating terminals, buying equipment and tools, and modernizing AMA's communications system, among other things. "It is an achievement of this management that, for the first time in more than a decade, funds were obtained from the Federal Transport Administration for the purchase of buses of the fixed-route, regular service," the paper quoted Torres as saying. She said that until now Puerto Rico had not qualified to receive these funds due to non-compliance of the previous administration with a regulation that requires 80% of the fleet to be available for service. Some US$10.7mn will be spent to buy 30 buses, and another US$1.5mn to buy four hybrid units, she added.