Muscat: The Ministry of Transport and Communications and Information Technology will have a complete evaluation of the public transport network in the country through a consultancy, which will be selected through a bidding process.

The selected consultant will be responsible for conducting an evaluation of current public transport services in the Sultanate within and between major cities and as well as between neighbouring countries.

The tendency bids have been invited from those involved in urban engineering consultancy, master Planning and project management consultancy.

Tender documents are available until November 14 and the last date to submit bids is December 08.

The study will focus on bus route analysis, scheduling, ridership data, and service coverage; as well as the intercity network coverage and cost.

Additionally, the consultant will be responsible for analysing demographic and geographic data to identify areas of potential growth and need for additional service in alignment with the structure plans, including the one for Greater Muscat and other cities, that mobility and transport data and analysis, which can be used by the consultant.

This evaluation will involve a comprehensive analysis of potential routes, including the identification of key destinations, stops, service frequency, Omanization, fleet age, added value elements.

The consultant should recommend the metrics through which the results of the evaluation can be benchmarked to conduct gap analysis considering regional and global experiences and incorporating inputs from Oman economy, population, existing bus routes, culture, and other logical criteria.

Benchmarking should consider factors such as projected ridership, cost-effectiveness, and community needs.

It may be noted that in 2014, an international engineering and consultancy firm company prepared a Public Transport Master Plan (PTMP) for the Oman National Transport Company (ONTC), which included building a system from the scratch the bus network in the capital.

The study focused on developing inter-city and city bus services.

Subsequently in November 2015, the ONTC was rebranded to Mwasalat and bus services were expanded from two to the length and breath of the city, and later to Salalah and Suhar. There are international also bus services to Abu Dhabi and the UAE.

The Greater Muscat Structure Plan (GMSP) places lots of importance on connectivity via public transportation and less dependence on private vehicles, according to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development.

The development of public transport is important to reduce dependence on private vehicles, traffic congestion, accidents and also carbon emissions.

The proposed metro line will start from Sultan Haitham City and will have important stations at Muscat International Airport, CBD Ghala, Al Khuwair Downtown, and finally the CBD Ruwi.

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