Tourist transportation in Bangladesh

Ayesha Afrin and Azizul Hassan

Introduction

As an ancillary service, transportation in Bangladesh is a crucial element for tourist experience delivery. Tourist transportation in this country can hardly be claimed as the most updated but there are scopes for further development. The transportation system in Bangladesh is multimodal consisting of air, rail, road and water. Tourists in Bangladesh can experience certain forms of transportation which are less available in other parts of the world, such as rickshaws (Sultana, 2013). Different innovations in transportation are the responsible factors of the rapid spread of tourism. The transportation system of a country is meant to have a vital place in the global network system and is one of the most important components of the tourism infrastructure. The tourism industry needs a supportive transportation system to carry tourists from one place to another when one of the key purposes of tourism is experience sharing through mobility. Bangladesh is turning into a considerable destination for both regional and international tourism business. This paper briefly explains the transportation system in Bangladesh to cover the specific demands of both domestic and international tourists.

Tourism trade in Bangladesh

Tourism is one of the world’s fastest growing industries. This is a major foreign currency earning source and employment generation industry for many countries. The trade of tourism is centuries old: Guyer and Feuler first offered an acceptable definition of tourism in 1905 (Ugurlu, 2010). Later, in order to prevent confusion around the definition of “tourism”, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) (2011, p. 1) defined it as: “Tourism comprises the activities of persons travelling and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes”. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) report (2019), the direct contribution of travel and tourism to the GDP of Bangladesh in 2018 was US$2,750.7bn (3.2% of GDP). This is forecasted to rise by 3.6% to USS 2849.2 billion in 2019 and by 6.5% per annum to 4.7% of GDP by 2024. All of these figures present that the tourism trade in Bangladesh will have a significant rise that should have a positive influence on her transportation system and network.

Figure 5.1 Tourism transportation

Source: TourismNotes, 2019

Tourist transportation

A tourist is generally offered to travel by any means of transportation in accordance to the demand and convenience (World Bank, 2009). It is important for a tourist to become well aware about the various modes of transport available in a country like Bangladesh. From a wider context, the various modes of transport can be classified as:

Tourist transportation in Bangladesh

Transportation is an integral part of the tourism industry and the national economy. Bangladesh witnessed a rapid growth in transportation since independence. The overall annual growth rate is nearly 8.2% for freight transport and 8.4% for passenger transport (Mahmud et al., 2006). Still, the transport intensity of the Bangladesh economy is considerably lower than that of many other developing countries. The modes of tourist transportation in Bangladesh arc discussed next.

First, the rickshaw is the most conventional feature of tourist transportation in Bangladesh. Characteristically, this is the traditional mode of transportation in Bangladesh and is environmentally friendly due to pedal operation. Dhaka, the capital city of Bangladesh, is known as the “Rickshaw Capital of the World”. In all major cities in Bangladesh, tourists will find the rickshaw the most inexpensive and convenient mode of transportation (Ahmed et al., 2017).

Second, air transport is by far the most effective transport mode mainly for foreign tourists. According to Rodrigue (2017), because of prices, only 12.5% of the tourists travel by plane but for international travel this share is around 40%. Air transport has revolutionized the geographical aspect of distances. The most remote areas of the world can now be reached from any part of the world in less travelling time. Business travellers are among the largest users of airline facilities but low-cost airlines have also been able to attract significant market segment mainly for tourist transportation. Bangladesh has three international airports: Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport in Dhaka, Shah Amanat International Airport in Chittagong and Osmani Airport in Sylhet. Visa on arrival is available at the international airports for nationals of certain countries. There are also airports to cater domestic and private airlines. All of the 11 operational airports in the country (i.e. Dhaka, Barisal, Chattogram, Cumilla, Cox’s Bazar, Ishwardi, Jessore, Rajshahi, Syedpur, Sylhct and Thakurgaon) serve domestic flights according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Bangladesh (2019). Low-cost domestic flights to all major destinations in Bangladesh are provided by local airlines such as United Airways, Regent Airways, Novo Air, US-Bangla Airlines and the national flag carrier Biman Bangladesh Airlines (Discovery Bangladesh, 2019). In Bangladesh, most of the airports have closer proximity to the city centre that makes the tourist transportation experience more convenient and useful. Figure 5.1 below shows the distance between the specific airports to the relevant city centre with the available mode of transportation.

Third, railway transport can be both enjoyable and time saving for tourists. Nationally operated the Bangladesh Railway provides service throughout Bangladesh. About 32% of the total area of Bangladesh is covered by the railway network (Discovery Bangladesh, 2019). The Bangladesh Railway services places of interest such as Chattogram, Sylhct, Khulna, Mymensingh, Bogra, Rajshahi and Dinajpur starting from Dhaka. The Inter-city Express Service is available to and from important cities at a reasonable fare. There are also local trains that serve passengers at cheaper rates but can take longer time to reach a destination. During the festive seasons (i.e. the Eid, the Puja, the winter season from November to January and others) the demand for train tickets to travel between Dhaka, Chattogram, Cox’s Bazar and the rest of Bangladesh remains at the peak. Tickets can be purchased from the official website of the Bangladesh Railway and train schedules can also be viewed online. Since the process is not straightforward, it

Figure 5.2 Distance to the city centre from the airport

Source: Nordea, 2019

Tourist transportation in Bangladesh 75 is highly advisable for foreign tourists to read the English instructions before attempting to purchase train tickets online.

Fourth, waterway transportation: Bangladesh is believed to have one of the largest inland waterway networks in the world. The landscape of Bangladesh is dominated by about 250 rivers flowing from the north to the south towards the Bay of Bengal. Almost two-thirds of the geographical area of Bangladesh is wetland laced with a dense network of creeks, canals and rivers. Water transport is the only means of transportation available in almost 10% of the total area of the country. The navigable waterways in Bangladesh vary from 8,372 kilometre during the monsoon to 5,200 kilometre during the dry season (Discovery Bangladesh, 2019). Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority (BIWTA) is established by the government of Bangladesh to maintain the navigability’ of ports and channels while the state-owned Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Corporation or BIWTC (BIWTC) provides passenger and cargo services in inland waterway’s and coastal areas of the country’. As a country crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, Bangladesh boasts of many different conventional locally made boats. The sampan is one of them that has hundreds of years of traditions of Chattogram in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, these country-made boats are most commonly used as carriers and can be seen in the rivers, canals and creeks. They do not only carry' passengers but also merchandise, both small- and large-scale shipments. Along with these traditional boats, mechanized waterway transportation is also available. Speedboats having the latest technologies are generally used as a transportation mode through the Padma River and Maowa Ferry’ Ghat of Dhaka, Bangladesh. A journey by Rocket Steamer Service from Dhaka (Sadar-ghat) to Khulna, the gateway to Sundarbans can possibly' be a rewarding experience for tourists. As Bangladesh is a riverine country’, ship, boats and ferries play important roles in the transportation system of Bangladesh. A ferry’ in Bangladesh is sometimes called a “launch,” by which tourists can travel to Khulna, Barisal, Patuakhali, Chandpur and most other destinations of the country'. However, this is strongly advisable to purchase first-class tickets when travelling by steamer or launch for better comfort and lavishness when the price difference between first and other class tickets is mostly' negligible (Sultana, 2013). Tourists can enjoy the natural beauty’ of Bangladesh with water transport that is rather inexpensive and enjoyable.

Fifth, land transportation by’ bus/coach services is an unavoidable feature of tourist transportation in Bangladesh. In the country’, road transport operation in domestic routes is mostly dominated by' private entrepreneurs. Bus or coach fair in Bangladesh is most likely' among the cheapest in the world. Dhaka as the capital city along with other major divisional cities like Chattogram, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal, Rangpur and others have created the road transportation network. Luxury express and non-stop bus/coach services are made available to principal cities from the three major bus terminals of Dhaka (i.e. Gabtoli, Said-abad and Mohakhai). Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) as the government agency' also maintains a countrywide network of bus and truck services. In the most recent time, Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka direct daily' bus services via

Benapolc of Jessore is introduced. Tourists can easily avail air-conditioned bus/ coach services to almost all major tourist destinations like Cox’s Bazar.

Sixth, car rental, that is private car hire service, is available in Dhaka and most of the major cities. Car rental companies are usually less interested to provide a vehicle without a driver. However, the service that is offered is relatively comfortable for tourists having very poor knowledge about Bangladesh. Drivers with a rented car can act as a tourist guide to turn the experience as more enjoyable. In Bangladesh, renting a car is relatively inexpensive while in every city, taxi cabs and green-coloured auto-rickshaws are used for travelling short distances. From the institutional context, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation (BPC), a government organization, has a fleet of air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned cars, microbuses and jeeps. BPC also offers transfer service for tourists between Dhaka airport and main city points or hotels.

Seventh, mobile app-based taxi service and share riding (i.e. Uber, Pathao and OBHAI) arc becoming popular. Uber Technologies, Inc., widely known as Uber, is a US-based multinational ride-hailing company. This company offers transportation services (i.e. ride service hailing, peer-to-peer ridesharing, a micromobility system with electric bikes and scooters and food delivery). Operational areas of Uber are over 785 metropolitan areas across the world. Uber platforms can be accessed through its mobile apps and websites (Uber, 2019). Pathao offers almost all of its services through one app that is rather a super app. Pathao regularly updates its app for making the overall app navigation better, more natural and straightforward for users. Both the passengers and users of Pathao are required to have access to an IOS- or Android-based smartphone with GPS enabled and Internet. This company uses a location-based system for matching the passenger with a nearby driver heading towards the desired destination. Pathao at present offers ride-sharing, food delivery, parcel, and on-demand transport sharing services in three major cities of Bangladesh (i.e. Dhaka, Sylhet and Chat-togram), and Kathmandu of Nepal. At present, Pathao has its food delivery services in Chattogram and Dhaka metropolitan areas. Pathao offers on-demand ride-sharing services through cars and motorcycles. Currently, Pathao has a registered fleet of over 200,000 vehicles (Pathao, 2019). OBHAI is a ride-sharing app that enables passengers to select a microbus, car, CNG or autorickshaw for specific destinations. The mission of OBHAI is to offer reliable, safe and convenient transportation for everyone across Bangladesh (OBHAI, 2019). Ride-sharing businesses have become popular and a few other companies are either in operation or will appear in the transportation industry of Bangladesh.

Tourist transportation administration in Bangladesh

Since tourists very often face urban transport issues (i.e. mobility, congestion, safety and environmental aspects), they become vulnerable to any harmful effect. The rapid urbanization process, high vehicular population growth and mobility followed by inadequate transport facilities and policies, varied traffic issues with nonconcentration on non-motorized vehicles, the absence of reliable public transport

Tourist transportation in Bangladesh 77 system, inadequate traffic management practices and parking facilities arc challenges for the responsible government agencies and ministries to tackle (Mahmud ct al., 2006). Primarily, the Ministry of Communication is the highest authority responsible for transit, construction, development, expansion and maintenance of roads and railway transportation that help tourists compare to other countries. The Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation (BRTC) is the only public transport service provider in the country, established under the Bangladesh Road Transport Corporation Ordinance of 1961. It provides bus services that are international, inter-city and intra-city. Bangladesh has five ministries responsible for transportation within country with specific responsibilities both directly and indirectly. These are first, the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges that is responsible for ensuring road safety; second, the Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism as responsible for civil aviation; third, the Ministry of Shipping to look after ensuring maritime transport; fourth, the Ministry of Railways for railway transportation; and fifth, the Ministry of Road Transport and Bridges with two divisions, the Road Transport and Highways Division and the Bridges Division (Zulfikcr, 2017). This is the general tourist transportation administration in Bangladesh having sufficient concentration to develop tourist transportation facilities and offerings.

Comparative advantages of modes of tourist transportation in Bangladesh

Tourists have a wide variety of transport options available today. There are several advantages and disadvantages of all the modes of transport. Air transport has direct routes, approximately high speed, social and political significance and luxurious travels as its advantages. However, issues like high cost, jet lag, unsuitable for heavy bulk cargo, accidents always fatal and international rule are the disadvantages of air transportation. Second, road transport has flexibility, reliability, door-to-door service, affordability, supplements other modes of transport and quick transit for short distances as its advantages. Still, slow speed, limited carrying capacity, accidents, non-air-conditioned coaches and bad conditions of roads are the disadvantages of road transport that are required to be considered. Third, railway transport has the advantages of cheap long-distance travel, large carrying capacity, dependable service, quicker than road transportation and the ability to view scenery en route. However, inflexibility, unfit to hilly regions, difficulties in rural areas and dining car facilities not always available are the disadvantages of railways that have to be considered. Fourth, water transport is rather economical with a large carrying capacity. Still, weakness of the system or insecurity can become disadvantages of water transport for tourists that require attention to resolve.

Transport as a promoting element of tourist destination

Whether transportation plays an important role in enriching the travel experience of a tourist depends on the mode of transportation and the frequency of use. Transportation can be turned into a separate tourism product (i.e. cruising,

Orient Express trains, boat trips, etc.). The effective factors in choosing the transportation mode in tourism can be (Schiller et al., 2010): time limit, distance, status, comfort, security, benefit, price, geographical position and competition. Bangladesh as a vacation land has many facets. Her tourist attractions include archaeological sites, historic mosques and monuments, resorts, beaches, picnic spots, forest and wildlife that brings one in close touch with mother nature. Among many others, in Rajshahi division that is the northern part of the country, there are archaeological sites. In Chattogram division that is the south-eastern part, there are natural and hilly areas like along with sandy sea beaches. In Khulna division, that is the south-western part, there is the Sundarbans, the largest mangrove forest of the world with royal Bengal tiger and spotted deer. In Sylhet, that is the north-eastern part, there is a green carpet of tea plants on small hillocks. Expenses in other areas can be much lower. Lonely Planet ranked Bangladesh as the best value destination for the year 2011 (Lonely Planet, 2019). In comparison to most other countries of the world, tourists may find Bangladesh as one of the best tourist destinations. However, smooth tourist transportation is essential to let the tourists enjoy and experience these beauties. In Dhaka city, it is usually recommended that tourists rent a car, with a driver, for personal use during long stays in the city. In recent years, construction of a number of bridges such as the Bangabandhu Jamuna Bridge, Meghna Bridge and Meghna-Gumti Bridge, Bangladesh-China Friendship Bridge, Shambhuganj Bridge and Mahananda Bridge have been completed. It has established a strategic link between the east and the west of Bangladesh that has integrated the country and is generating multifaceted benefits to the tourist apart from quick movement of tourist/pas-senger traffic.

To attract tourists, destination developers may use many forms of transport to move people around. These novel modes of transport ensure that major exhibits are viewed in a certain sequence and ensure that the crowd moves through at a reliable pace. Overcrowding should be avoided at all costs to prevent untoward incidents and to maintain the beauty of the place. Tourists can cover the entire park in a shorter duration with the help of these modes of transport. Transportation is the most crucial component of the tourism infrastructure. It is required not only for reaching the destination but also visiting the site and moving about at the destination. Variety in modes of transportation adds colour to the overall tourism experience. Unusual forms of transportation are also an attraction such as the cable cars in hilly terrain, the funicular railway, or jet boating. The choice of mode of transport is vast and tourists can choose a mode to suit their budget. They can opt for scheduled or non-scheduled transport such as the hiring of vehicles, boats, coaches or trains so that they can travel with their group.

Tourism in Bangladesh is a slowly developing as a foreign currency earner. The country has much to attract international and domestic tourists. The transport sector in Bangladesh faces the challenge of providing equitable services and opportunities in an extremely densely populated country and an environment prone to disasters, potentially aggravated in the future by the impact of climate change. Transport is, thus, one of the major components of the tourism industry.

To develop any place of tourist attraction there has to be proper, efficient and safe modes of transportation. While the government of Bangladesh has achieved fast expansion of the road network, thus providing considerable benefits to a population lacking accessibility, this created a tradeoff with other modes of transport such as waterways and railways, safety’ of transport users and the environment. Facing these challenges requires us to reexamine priorities and to build sustainable, safe and quality road infrastructure and an integrated modern mass transport system for achieving desired socio-economic development or to develop a strategy which allows for a sustainable contribution of the transport sector to the national development objectives.

Tourist mobility impacts the environment

Many studies have shown that tourist mobility’ is related to accidents, traffic jams and air pollution and has a negative impact upon local residents (Banister, 2008). Public transportation is also a significant environmental concern because it can bring a lot of people together in one space, such as on a train or bus, as well as reduce traffic jams and the number of private car accidents. Tourism-related public transportation is important. It is really’ important for policy’ makers to implement appropriate transportation policies and facilities when they set up their tourism policies and plans (Black, 2010). In addition, in order to develop transportation to support tourism and local residents in Bangladesh, the municipality' should host an initiative and bring all stakeholders together to solve the problem. However, research has found that the facilitation of transportation services may’ threaten tourism and decrease the number of visitors due to concerns about fairness. Also, the national government and provincial government have to make rules to control and facilitate transportation together, because the topic is so important to the image of the province and the tourism industry. The topic of government management of transportation services requires a great deal of management, such as registering and training transportation personnel and facilitating tourism. Providing guidelines for solving the transportation problems for visitors or activities related to tourism is also important, as the issues must be managed and need to be improved and developed sustainably' (Goldman and Gorham, 2006). So, the guidelines to improve the tourist transportation system or major steps that believe would improve and strengthen relationships include: first, to develop more railway routes that connect to multiple provinces; second, to improve the transportation network, especially the major and minor roads and support transportation channels to cover increases in traffic lanes, and manage transportation planning systems for the province; third, better communication and regular meetings between top agency leaders; fourth, more formal written guidelines; and fifth, strong involvement by private sector tourism and transportation interests with government. There needs to be more investment in transportation resources to support tourism; all respondents believe that the tourism industry’ is not engaged enough in transportation decision making.

80 Ayesha Afrin and Azizul Hassan

Tourist transportation in Bangladesh: some challenges

Because the cities are crowded and there is competition for public transit, tourists may find it difficult to use the transportation system. They may face difficulties to get public vehicles like buses, trains, and taxis especially in Dhaka city. Outside Dhaka hiring an auto (widely known is CNG) or easy bike is a piece of cake.

An increase in traffic due to world tourism growth puts pressure on transportation facilities, and this can have adverse effects. Those negative effects are (Ritchie, 2012): first, congestion that means delays which leads to waste of time and energy. Serious congestions may have a negative effect on transportation modes, especially on airports and roads during peak times. Second, safety and security that make sure that the transportation mode is safe and secure is a basic and important requirement for tourism. Third, environment that is an increase in traffic may have disastrous effect on the environment if that area does not have the carrying capacity for additional tourists. Last, seasonality, that is the seasonal pattern of travel demand creates overcrowding at certain times. Adversely low occupancies and load factors will occur at other periods.

With continued economic development, Dhaka (the capital city of Bangladesh) is beginning to experience severe traffic congestion. With more than 250,000 motorized vehicles in this city alone, traffic congestion wastes fuel and time and makes tourist travel difficult. This also turns the existing public transport inefficient, adding unsafe levels of noise and air pollution. This is impacting the quality’ of life for inhabitants of the metropolitan area, the nation’s largest. Traffic congestion varies during the day, necessitating planning and longer trips; this impacts productivity', cutting across social and economic status. Many government and public-transport agencies drafted policies, undertook projects and implemented programmes to solve the problem.

Passenger and pedestrian safety in the roads is currently' a burning issue in Bangladesh. Death counts in the highways are rising every day at an alarming rate. Although the government is undertaking a number of significant steps addressing the issue, situations in the highways do not seem to get much positive change too soon. Public unrest and riots demanding safe roads tend to occur in quite an unpredictable manner as both the authority' and the highway section of the police prove to fail in bringing discipline in the road transportation system and the source of all problems. The High Court of Bangladesh recently' directed the government to constitute a national independent inquiry’ committee, including at least 15 experts, to conduct a survey' on the fitness of public motor vehicles in order to avoid road accidents across the country (The Daily' Star, 2019).

Tourist transportation in Bangladesh: suggestions

Transportation is not just about moving an object from point A to point B. Rather, it is a process of value delivery: sending things all over the country’, carrying customers to upper floors or building a warehouse for cargos, all of which require products in transportation (Tolley', 2003). From the basic understandingof Bangladesh transport system, it appears that efficient services to the tourists are hardly offered. In spite of all difficulties recently we won in tourism the South Asian Travel Award (STA) 2019, by the choice of tourist which motivates us to do better work for the tourist in the future (South Asian Travel Awards, 2019).

There are always opportunities to improve the tourist transportation in Bangladesh. All the transit stakeholders need to point out critical improvement opportunities according to their views. There can be some contrasting views in their response on questions related to transit challenges. However, this is normal that regarding the improvement options, majority’ of them can share a common view. This can mostly validate the arguments that the tourist transportation in Bangladesh is yet to be developed to meet those challenges as previously mentioned.

For evaluating transit performance, it is important to identify significant indicators to measure overall performance of the transit operators. Tourist opinion is the most important part of this study because it allows one to explore the current situation and to discover operators’ thoughts on the opportunities for better transit performance. For this study, common and widely used indicators are selected to measure transit performance through data envelopment analysis (DEA). With a view to identify the relationship between the input indicators (i.e. labour, fuel, capital) and output indicators (i.e. vehicle-km, technology) within the transit (Tripadvisor, 2016).

Safety standard of the vehicles used for tourist transportation need to be ensured. For this, training facilities for drivers, mechanics and transport management need to be provided; strategic interventional roles at the time of emergency need to be played; the private sector in transport service and introduction of new routes need to be introduced; and road transport services for tourists need to be operated.

Apart from these, major administrative authorities as the Dhaka Metropolitan Police Traffic have to take actions against traffic violations, ensure smooth traffic flow every day, take measures to reduce road accidents. There are no specific studies about the efficiency of transit services in Bangladesh cities. Most studies have looked at the overall scenario of transport in cities like Dhaka and the reasons behind the poor quality’ transport there. A significant number of studies have been carried out to explore the potential for mass transit in the city’ (World Bank, 2009). Modern and innovative technologies (i.e. Satellite Navigation System) need to be applied including Wi-Fi and GPRS system in the vehicles for better and easier transportation for tourists.

Tourism is all about travelling. To sum up, in order to develop and increase the role of transportation in tourism countries should pay attention to the following points: first, transportation modes specific to the regions must be developed; second, the transportation costs must alway's be kept competitive; third, the passengers must be attracted to sea and railway modes of transportation; fourth, new embarkation ports must be established in order to develop cruise travel; fifth, new fast train lines must be established and new fast trains must be bought and foreign experience must be applied; sixth, the distance from stations must be kept less; seventh, new coaches must be brought to the country; eighth, new technologically advanced aircraft must be put into airlines; ninth, the personnel must be trained; finally’, the governments should allocate financial support for the development of transportation. It is required not only for reaching the destination but also visiting the tourism sites and moving about at the destination. Variety in modes of transportation adds colour to the overall tourism experience. Tourist transportation in Bangladesh in coming years can possibly implement more state-of-the-art technologies being implemented for the best of tourism.

Conclusion

Travel and tourism is a huge and diverse industry. To be a tourist is to be concerned about driving time, driving safety, driving costs, and driving frustration. Travellers and economic growth are clearly best served by cooperative and collaborative relationships between those who formulate and implement public policies pertaining to highways and travel and tourism. Following the lead of earlier research, the current study finds out first, there is not enough cooperation between the top transportation management and tourism agencies; second, the perceptions of the tourism agencies are relatively weak; third, in most areas, the private tourism/recreation operators seem to play non-active roles in the development of transportation projects affecting their interests. The recommendation focuses on traveller information services, including a listing of 13 information services media available to tourists (displays at transportation terminals, billboards, tourist-oriented road signage, information “logo” signs, variable message signs, historical markers, highway welcome centres, interactive video kiosks, tourist-oriented road maps, promotional-informational brochures, in-vehicle tourist information, tourist-oriented radio channels and special road condition maps/ advisories). Some areas were identified where priority attention should be given to maximize improvements to traveller information services. Future research studies can focus on explaining the collaboration between the Bangladesh government with local administration organizations (LAO) in all areas of Bangladesh to rethink the national development plan in all transportation networks, as well as implement a comprehensive transportation network that will reach all areas. The number of people in this area is increasing and many foreigners are deciding to make their holidays in Bangladesh, and public transportation still cannot support a good quality of life. Lack of public transportation is an obstacle to development in all social aspects, such as economy, tourism, education and social development.

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