YANGON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar's Yangon bus service system will be upgraded to meet international standard early next year, the official media reported on Sunday.
"The system will be similar to what is being practiced internationally by January 2018," Yangon Region Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein was quoted as saying.
He added that old city buses were replaced with modern vehicles with GPS navigation system to be installed and operated by the Control Center and a prepaid card payment system will be introduced, under which one card can be used in buses, trains, water transport and purchasing.
According to the Yangon regional authorities, the government is now inviting a tender to upgrade bus stops.
The government is now also assessing the newly introduced Yangon Bus Service (YBS) for three months and will transform it to a public bus service later this year.
According to the Yangon regional office, there are currently 79 bus lines operated by 3,500 buses in Yangon to transport 2.5 million people daily out of 6 million's residents in Yangon.
All 300 old bus lines running in Myanmar's former capital city of Yangon were abolished and replaced with up to the 79 new bus lines starting on Jan. 16. The change is aimed at reducing traffic jam in the city and making the bus lines systematically operational.
