[February 06, 2009] Myanmar removes World War II buses from former capital Tweet YANGON, Feb 06, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- The Yangon traffic authorities of Myanmar have started removing very-old-aged buses from the former capital city and replace them with modern ones to ensure safety in traveling, said officials of the Committee for Observation of traffic Rules Friday. There were 370 busses left behind by the Second World War, of which 207 have been transferred to the remote suburban area in order to reduce traffic jams and accidents, the officials said. Meanwhile, about 300 modern buses have been imported to operate in the city to replace the old ones. According to earlier report, there are 310 bus lines with 6,330 buses transporting more than 3 million passengers per day in the city. Up to April last year, there were 210,150 traffic-rule-breaking cases in Yangon division which has a population of 6.694 million and 195,331 motor vehicles. The traffic offenses have resulted in 242 car accident cases, in which 62 people died and 469 were injured. CCTV cameras are being widely installed to monitor traffic flow and strict action is being taken against traffic rule breakers, according to the Yangon Division Wireless Traffic Police. Other statistics indicate that the number of motor vehicles operating in the whole of Myanmar has reached 1.5 million in 2008 from 1 million in the previous year. Of the total, motor cycles accounted for 1.1 million or 75 percent, up from 650,000 correspondingly, while passenger cars remained at 200,000 or 15 percent. Meanwhile, except the municipal area, the authorities have lifted ban on operation of motor cycles in 14 suburban townships in Yangon division starting July 1. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]