የኢትዮዽያውያን ዴሞክራቶች ድረ-ገፅEthiopian Democrats' Website

Source: Capital;

Luc van Kemenade

At Megenagna bus station in Addis Ababa blue white minibuses are milling around. They hunk, cut each other off and thus fight for customers. From every sliding door a wayala yells his destination and jumps aside nimbly when customers besiege his bus.

It’s an all too familiar scene. For many years now, the minibus has been the most popular way of transportation in Addis Ababa, but this is about to change, according to Tadesse Tessema, CEO of Holland Car. Soon his first so-called trailer bus will be in operation. The bus is able to carry about three hundred passengers, the equivalent of twenty minibuses. Addis Ababa will be an experimental garden. Thereafter, the main goal is to expand to other African countries. “It’s basically a can with eight wheels,” Tadesse says. “It’s an ideal way of mass transportation in Africa.”

According to the engineer, who followed his education at a technical school in the Netherlands, the Holland Car bus will put an end to another well-known scene: broken-down cars at the side of the road, something that often happens to minibuses as well. His trailer bus is made of two parts, a truck that is imported from China and a fourteen meters long trailer. “If the motor breaks down, you just replace the truck. In this way you’ll never have to spend several hours with car trouble at the side of the road.”

The biggest advantage of the bus that is designed by the Dutch company Motio, is its simplicity. “You don’t need rocket science to develop it,” designer Arjan Steketee says. “It can easily be produced in Ethiopia and, more importantly, its lifespan is extraordinary. The bus is made of steel, so there’s not much to be broken. In fact, the headlights are the most vulnerable part.”

Another advantage, according to Steketee, is the separation of truck and trailer. A dedicated driver will therefore drive the bus, in contrast to the minibuses in which drivers are often distracted by a fully packed vehicle. “In our bus, the driver doesn’t have any passengers sitting almost on his lap,” he says. The Holland Car bus will have a ticket collector working in the back of the trailer, selling tickets while the bus is actually driving. He doesn’t have to scream his lungs out, like the wayalas do. Instead, a digital display will communicate the destination of the bus as well as the special led light strip at the side, which changes colour according to destination.

Although the decrease of minibuses in Addis’ street scene seems inevitable, the intention was never to undercut the minibuses from the transportation market, Tadesse assures. “We are also creating jobs,” the CEO, who employs about three hundred people at the moment, says. “We need ticket collectors, drivers and factory workers. “If we produce at full capacity we are talking about a thousand to 1,500 new employees. Besides that, it’s much better for the environment if there are fewer minibuses on the street.”

The idea of a trailer and truck as a means of human transportation is not a new one. Some sixty years ago it has already been introduced in various cities in Europe. But the idea flopped because the city administrations preferred light railway transportation, such as trams and trains, to the big buses. However never properly investigated, Steketee assumes that a lack of manoeuvrability has played an important role in the failure. How is this going to affect smooth transportation in the chaotic traffic of Addis Ababa? “Well, we have to test it,” the designer says. “But I have no worries, the bus is just as manoeuvrable as most city buses driving around in European cities.” The technical risks of tram and train transportation are too big to be implemented in Africa, adds Tadesse, who has won an international innovation award for his line of private cars in Ethiopia.

The CEO expects his mass transportation to be successful. “Africa needs cheap and reliable transportation and that’s exactly what our trailer bus has to offer.” Holland Car officially presented its bus to the public last weekend and is currently negotiating with the Ethiopian Road Authority about the exploitation. After the kick-off in Addis Ababa, Tadesse plans to expand from city to regional transportation. After that it’s time for the next step: on to various African countries.