DOHA: West End Park, close to the Industrial Area and now renamed as Asian Town, will soon get a mini bus station, a senior official of Mowasalat said yesterday.
The new bus depot will mainly serve the large number of expatriate workers visiting the sprawling facility.
“We are having discussions with a leading commercial outlet (operating in Asian Town), which has agreed to provide space to park a few buses,” Nasser Al Khanji, (pictured) executive director for support services at Mowasalat, told this daily yesterday.
The new facility is expected to reduce the pressure on the main bus terminal in Al Ghanim to some extent, he said.
It will benefit people visiting Asian Town, as well as workers based in the Industrial Area who want to catch a bus to other parts of the city.
Al Khanji said Mowasalat was adding new safety features to the Al Ghanim bus station to prevent accidents involving passengers.
Last December, four people were killed when a bus rammed into a group of people waiting for buses at the station.
“We are installing additional barricades to separate passengers from the bus parking area. The plan is to create dedicated lanes for passengers to board the buses. This will organise passenger movement and prevent people rushing from here and there,” said Al Khanji.
He said Mowasalat had launched circular bus services covering major parts of the city to reduce congestion at the busy Al Ghanim bus terminal.
“With this new service people don’t have to go to the main bus terminal to catch a bus to different parts of the city,” said Al Khanji.
There is a plan to build five new bus stations across the city that will be linked to metro stations. It is expected to be completed by 2018.
Mowasalat is also planning to launch bus services linking Hamad International Airport with various hotels in the city.
The Karwa smart card for bus passengers will soon have a new feature that will allow the users to top up the cards using their mobile phones.
This is done through a special application for mobile phones where topping up is done through a bank account or a credit card.
“This feature is scheduled to be launched by the end of this year.
The official said there is a plan to privatise the bus service in the country but no time frame has been set for that.
“Mowasalat will continue to be one of the operators of buses and taxis and compete with private operators,’” said Al Khanji.
THE PENINSULA
