فاس نيوز ميديا جريدة الكترونية جهوية تعنى بشؤون و أخبار جهة فاس مكناس – متجددة على مدار الساعة
A new incident occurred in Marrakech on the evening of Saturday, February 15, sparking concern after a fire broke out on a bus belonging to the Alsa urban transport company on Avenue Ibn Barjane near Snack Chouaib in the Daoudiate neighborhood.
The fire, which occurred around 9 p.m. while the bus was in motion, caused panic among passengers and passersby before civil protection teams quickly intervened to extinguish it. Fortunately, there were no injuries.
However, the incident has once again brought to the forefront the deteriorating urban transport situation in the city, which is not limited to dilapidated buses and a lack of maintenance but also includes daily suffering for residents due to severe overcrowding, especially during peak hours. Citizens are forced to wait for long periods at inadequate stations before finding themselves forced to board overcrowded buses that exceed their capacity.
The situation has been exacerbated by the elimination of many routes, leaving some neighborhoods almost completely isolated, while residents are forced to travel in conditions that, to say the least, do not respect their dignity, amidst dilapidated buses, worn-out seats, and a lack of ventilation, making transportation within the city a difficult and demeaning daily experience.
Faced with this situation, the National Observatory for Combating Bribery and Protecting Public Funds has condemned the catastrophic situation of urban transport in Marrakech, considering that the recurrence of such incidents is evidence of a lack of maintenance and rational management of this vital facility. It also denounced the continued extension of the contract for the Alsa company, which has been managing the sector for a long time, despite widespread criticism of its services, in a reference to what it considered collusion on the part of the responsible parties, who continue to renew the contract without imposing any real obligations to improve the quality of transport.
Amid this daily suffering, the residents of Marrakech are calling for urgent intervention from local authorities to reconsider the management of urban transport, either by forcing the company to improve its services and respect the specifications, or by seeking more effective alternatives that guarantee citizens their right to safe and comfortable transportation that befits their dignity.
