[sustran] Bus riding Samoans stranded in road switch

[Todd Edelman, Green Idea Factory]

*Excerpt: The change will also allow imports of used cars from Japan and 
Singapore.

*http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8247960.stm

Samoans stranded in road switch

*Samoans reliant on bus travel have been stranded by the country's 
switch earlier this week to driving on the left of the road instead of 
the right. *

All but about 18 of the Pacific island nation's buses are banned from 
driving because their doors now open onto the middle of the road.

Bus operators want state aid to modify their vehicles, but talks with 
the prime minister have so far failed.

Samoa is the first country to make such a change since the 1970s.

Reports from Samoa said there had been no accidents since the switch on 
Monday, despite widespread predictions of road mayhem from opponents.

Before the switchover, bus drivers had been reluctant to go to the 
expense of converting their vehicles.

"A few of the bus owners did not believe that we would proceed [with the 
change]," Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said after meeting 
a group of them on Wednesday.

He said was considering a request to grant them an extension of three to 
six months, so they could continue driving while completing the 
necessary modifications.

He said he would give an answer to their request on Thursday.

The Samoan government introduced the change to end its reliance on 
expensive, left-hand-drive imports from America.

It hopes that the large Samoan expatriate communities in Australia and 
New Zealand will now ship used, more affordable vehicles back to their 
homeland.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/8247960.stm

Published: 2009/09/10 09:39:38 GMT

© BBC MMIX


**


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Green Idea Factory

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CAR is over. If you want it.

"Fort mit der Autostadt und was Neues hingebaut!" 
- B. Brecht (with slight modification)