New long distance transport service features e-ticketing

Odda Integrated Transport Services S.C. will start providing long distance public transportation services, by next week.
The company, which was established, last year with close to 10,000 shareholders in order to provide multiple business entities including public transportation services, has already purchased 50 modern buses from the Volvo Group, a Swedish multinational manufacturing company headquartered in Gothenburg. They are being assembled in Brazil by a company called Marco Polo.
The overall costs of the bus are a little bit more than 400 million birr, according to Eshetu Zeleke CEO of Odda.
Efficiency, operational excellence, and comfort is world class and all the buses meet the standard of the new transport directives.
Volvo, the Swedish car manufacturer has already delivered four buses two months ago for trial and the board chairman and the CEO traveled to Brazil to check the quality of the assembled busses recently.
European giant car manufacturers such as Man, Iveco, Mercedes, were among the competitors.
There are 46 buses are already at Djibouti port and they have cleared custom issues, they are expected to arrive in Addis this week.
For Eshetu Zeleke, the buses are new and the first for the Ethiopian road as they are made in Europe
The company already recruited and trained nearly 120 drivers and helpers. The company is expected to create more than 250 direct job opportunities and many more indirect jobs.
ODDA buses are expected to provide transportation services to 40 destinations, in all directions.
The ticket will be done though modern technologies to avoid a paper-based ticketing system and Odda is connecting the application. The buses have the capacity of 55 passengers, are expected to deliver transportation services throughout the country and beyond.
“Our plan is also integrating east Africa, by having our brand that will deliver long distance transportation from Addis to Mombasa, Juba, Djibouti, Khartoum, Nairobi, and Asmara,” Eshetu told Capital.
Alliance plans to construct modern parking lots in different parts of Addis Ababa, as part of its strategic plan. The buses will have a GPS online tracking system to increase efficiency.
According to the CEO, all buses, which have CCTV cameras, speed controllers, GPS, and air conditioning systems.
The company has a well-equipped maintenance center with the aim of being the center of excellence. Odda has also opened two petrol stations on the outskirts of Addis to supply petroleum beside a plan to add more buses in the near future.