While the new Yangon Bus Service (YBS) program is meant to make travelling by bus more efficient, it also seems to have had a positive impact on one of Yangon’s other public transportation services: the circle train. In the first two days of the new YBS being implemented, the Yangon circle train had approximately 20,000 more daily passengers, according to Kumudra.
Before the YBS program, authorities estimate that the train saw roughly 79,000 passengers per day. On January 16 — the bus system’s first day — there were 96,044 rail passengers, and on January 17, there were 98,722.
Railway authorities have confirmed that given the increase in passengers, they will add more carriages and schedule more trains as necessary.
The circle train travels a nearly 30-mile loop around Yangon, servicing several of the major townships, including Insein, Mingaladon, and Pazundaung. Railway commuters have noted that the train makes it easier for them to get to work, as they can hop off at one of the main townships and easily catch a bus or taxi to the office; this is preferable for some citizens who are finding that with the new bus routes, what used to be a direct one-stop journey now requires multiple stops and/or changing of bus lines.
