Public Transport Corporation

CLICK ON THE SMALL PICTURES TO THE LEFT TO SEE SERIES OF BUSES

In 1975 the Public Transport Corporation was founded. It started with Mercedes-Benz O302 buses with Iranian (Irannational) bodywork, adding MAN FOC -Avtomontasza some years later. According to Jane's Urban Transport Systems 1983 PTC had 188 Mercedes-Benz O302, and 40 Mercedes-Benz O309 18-seater midibuses. A further 252 buses were on order, including 180 for urban services in the Amman area. Pictures taken in 1984 show Mercedes-Benz O302 buses with the numbers 41, 59, 63, 104, 129 and 150, which coincides nicely with the total of 188. Also in 1984, MAN FOC -Avtomontasza buses were seen with the numbers 189, 217, 224, 351 and 360, which is also in line with expectations. None of the Mercedes-Benz O309 were noted. Obviously traffic in 1984 was much less dense than it is in 2009! Amman's population at the time was around 650.000 people (in 2008 there were an estimated 2 million inhabitants). At the time there were 42 routes and PTC services accounted for about 30% of public transport journeys. PTC's operation were meant to expand though it seems this did not really materialise.

In addition there were private bus operators in Amman with 181 vehicles, mostly truck-derived 45-seaters, accounting for around 10% of passenger journeys. Shared taxis (Servis) accounted for some 60% of passenger journeys.