Phnom Penh’s experiment in mass transit will roll as planned Friday morning, with 22 air-conditioned buses covering two routes from 5:30 am to 7:30 pm daily.
The bus experiment, to run for the month of June, is funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency as part of its ongoing efforts to tame the city’s chaotic traffic.
The idea is to see how feasible a public transit system is for Phnom Penh. Traffic experts say the current jumble of vehicles, from oxcarts up to tractor-trailers, is inefficient and dangerous.
As part of the experiment, bicycles, cyclos, motorcycles and slow-moving vehicles will be banned during bus hours from the busiest stretch of road in the city: Monivong Boulevard between Sihanouk and Kampuchea Krom boulevards.
Engineers had hoped to determine whether banning smaller vehicles made a significant difference in bus performance.
But Tatsuyuki Sakurai, deputy team leader for JICA’s road section, said Wednesday that ongoing Water Authority construction along Monivong Boulevard could complicate the situation.
He said the water project, intended to carry drinking water to the Chbar Ampao area, was supposed to be completed by June but is running behind schedule.
Municipal officials are racing to complete the water project before the heavy rains begin, he said.
“So we must compromise on this,” he said. “The city officials are being very cooperative.”
Most of Monivong is wide enough for the buses to pass without problem, he said. At two spots where construction is slowing traffic—the intersection of Russian Boulevard and Monivong—the city will assign 100 police officers to keep traffic moving.
Line 1 will run along Monivong Boulevard from the Chbar Ampao market, east of the Monivong Bridge, to just east of the Japanese Bridge. Line 2 will loop around downtown, running clockwise along Norodom, Sihanouk, Nehru and Kampuchea Krom boulevards.
Tickets will cost 800 riel, regardless of distance, and passengers can transfer from one line to the other for free. For the first five days of June, tickets will cost 500 riel to encourage ridership.
The buses will run every five minutes between 6:30 and 8:30 am and 4:30 and 6:30 pm, and every 10 minutes the rest of the time. The buses, which seat 29, are leased from private companies and will carry logos that read “Phnom Penh City Shuttle.”
Signs are posted at the approximately 36 stops along both routes. The number is inexact, said Sakurai, because one or two stops may be changed depending on demand.
He said there are no plans to continue service past June 30, although if ridership is high enough, the private companies may wish to inaugurate their own bus system.
Sakurai said JICA plans to issue a report on the experiment in late September or early October.
