The association of public commuter operators (ATRACO) has pledged to address the shortage of public service vehicles especially during rush hours.

This was disclosed yesterday after an election that saw the creation of a central union of transport cooperatives.

Also formed was a union that brings together transport cooperatives of Remera, Nyabugogo and the City Centre in Kigali City.

"We shall work with various financial institutions to buy more and modern public transport vehicles,” said John Bosco Turatsinze, who was elected president of the union.

He explained that as the association gears towards transforming to a cooperative and a profit-oriented entity, there is need to initiate profitable ventures.

"As a body, we are now charged with bringing the cooperatives together to plan and oversee implementation based on our target,” he said.

Others elected include the vice president, Jean Damascene Mwendo, Bernard Rwigamba as secretary and five other committee members.

The union was elected by 15 representatives, five from each of the three cooperatives.

A similar exercise was conducted in the provinces. It is from this structure that each union will provide five representatives from which eight will be elected to form a federation committee.

ATRACO president, Col. (Rtd) Ludovic Twahirwa Dodo, called upon the union and commercial taxi operators to work hard in transforming the association.

He said that, "It is time to prove our commitment in making the association successful through providing and simplifying public transport.”

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