Interlinea Buses Could Be Running By
December, MOPT Minister Says
It's been more than a year - 15 months to be
exact - since the Ministerio de Obras
Públicas y Transportes (MOPT) announced the
"interlinea" bus service that would connect
communities with a bus service without
having to pass through downtown San José.
The intersectoral bus service was to have
commenced operations in June 2008, however,
controversy over the awarding of the
contract for the routes and appeals to the
courts by several bus operators, put the
brakes on the project.
The seven routes are expected to start
operating by December of this year,
according to the ministra de Transportes,
Karla González, who assures that this time
nothing can stop the project and that all
the requirements set out by the Tribunal
Administrativo de Transportes - the court
that suspended the project - have been met.
González explained that the delay was due to
the fact that the MOPT had to start the
process of licitation from the very
beginning.
The original concession contract called for
bus operators to use brand new buses on the
routes. The original concessionaires who
were awarded the contract back in 2007 had
purchased more than a 100 brand new buses
and decided they would be yellow.
Since the suspension, most of the buses were
sold off or used in other routes, forcing
the MOPT to eliminate the "brand new"
requirements in the current concession
contract.
The interlinea will take passengers from
Santa Ana to Heredia, for instance, without
having to make the current change of bus in
downtown San José. Passengers can then move
on to Tibás and Moravia, again bypassing San
José.
Abutting communities like Alajuelita and
Escazú will be connected by bus service.
Currently, travelling from Escazú and
Alajuelita and back requires two buses that
start and end in downtown San José and a 500
metre walk between the two stops. The Escazú
bus stop is on the south side of the 'coca
cola', while the Alajuelita bus stop is 100
metres south of the Banco de Costa Rica
central branch.
The MOPT expects that the interlinea bus
service will reduce the number of buses
entering the downtown core by 20%
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