Caribbean & Central America - April 2013 (ISSN 1741-4458)

With the campaign ahead of the 2014 general elections by all intents and purposes under way, President Ricardo Martinelli is struggling with a pledge that was key to his own electoral victory in 2009: the promise to end the public transport chaos, particularly in the capital, Panama City.

On 5 April Panama City mayor and a member of Martinelli’s Cambio Democrático (CD), Roxana Méndez, announced an emergency plan, which included the provision of 50 buses initially for a ten-day period, to deal with the transport chaos in the capital. These problems have intensified since 15 March as a result of the withdrawal of the so-called ‘red devil’ (Diablo Rojo) buses – the second-hand decrepit US school buses which Martinelli pledged to get rid of - and problems with the Colombian operated replacement metro bus system, ‘Mi Bus’.

Complaints regarding both Mi Bus and the system of pre-paid transport cards administered by Chilean company, Sociedad Nacional de Procesamiento de Datos, S.A. (Sonda) come from various sectors. On 25 March, Panama’s main private sector lobby, Consejo Nacional de la Empresa Privada (Conep), issued a statement complaining that the “necessary” process of modernising public transport had become “a problem”, which was having “a negative impact” on the country’s economic development and causing problems for the estimated 750,00 users in Panama City. Irvin Halman, the president of another private sector lobby, Cámara de Comercio, Industrias y Agricultura de Panamá, told reporters that each hour of delay caused by the transport problems cost local businesses US$180,000. There have also been public protests outside the Mi Bus headquarters while in one capital district, San Miguelito, efforts are underway to collect signatures to present a formal complaint against the company.

Given the electoral importance of the issue, Martinelli is keen to be seen to be taking it seriously. On 19 March senior officials led by the minister for the presidency, Roberto Henríquez, met representatives of Mi Bus to discuss the problems. A week later, Panama’s transport authority (ATTT) announced that it would begin levying a US$1,148 daily fine on Mi Bus for poor services. Roberto Moreno, the ATTT head, told reporters at the time that the fines were for two offences: the infrequency of buses and the poor quality of the service. With Mi Bus officials since summoned to congress for questioning, Henríquez has been forced to admit more generally that the process of modernising Panama City’s public transport system was only 40% complete. Aside from the new Metrobus system, the other major public transport project is the US$1.6bn Panama City metro, being built by a Spanish-led consortium which is due for completion this year.