CNI News

5 August 2022

Amidst the prohibition of cargo on highway buses as of 4th August, the highway terminal at Aung San Stadium in Mingalar Taungnyunt Township in Yangon Region was almost deserted the next day, according to owners of highway bus lines.

Highway bus lines were closely watching the situation as no one came to the terminal to transport goods, a bus line official told the CNI.

He said, “The terminal was almost deserted. When I asked other highway bus owners, they said they were closely watching the situation as it was heard that authorities were planning to carry out surprise checks within one or two days. The news went viral online yesterday. So, people did not come to the terminal to transport goods and the terminal was almost empty without any cars.”

The township administrator of Mingalar Taungnyunt Township summoned highway bus operators on 3rd August and told them to sell tickets for passengers only and not to accept goods for transportation on highway buses.

Deserted Aung San Stadium Highway Bus Terminal.

As it was very difficult for highway bus services to survive without cargo transportation service fees, However, the administrator told them to wait a week and he would reply to them next week, said a highway bus official, who requested anonymity.

“They said they warned us previously not to accept goods for transportation for security reasons. However, it is very difficult for us to survive with the passenger service alone as only a few people travel these days. Everyone has a hard time. Authorities summoned us to a meeting and read out the instruction not to transport goods on highway buses. Then, they told us to sign a document acknowledging that we have read the instruction and said they would carry out surprise checks. They said they didn’t want to see any goods at our offices. So, we told them our difficulties and a captain told us that he would report the matter to his superior. We don’t know how long we will have to wait. He said it might take at least a week.”

Highway bus lines were previously instructed to inspect goods to be transported by unwrapping their packages but were not told which goods were prohibited.

Highway bus services at Aung San Stadium mainly rely on goods transportation as there are only a few passengers.