Another bus for public transport arrives in Cameroon

A new bus will arrive in Cameroon thanks to ORU Fogar’s intervention, therefore strengthening the school transport project promoted by the Conseil Régional de l’Ouest. This donation tries to improve the access to education and compensate for the lack of public or school transport services in this region of the country. 

The vehicle has been donated by DIRETIS, a company from Olesa de Montserrat, Spain. It is a catalan company with a long trajectory on collective passenger transport, well-known for its commitment to sustainable mobility and social responsibility. DIREXIS manages urban and inter urban lines throughout the region of Catalonia, and has decided to collaborate, through this donation, with the efforts to improve school conditions in Africa. 

In Cameroon, the project developed by the Conseil Régional de l’Ouest seeks to mitigate the problems of school mobility that directly affect the scholarly attendance and continuance. The initiative aspires to increase feminine school enrolment and to enrich practical education through trips and training activities. 

In its final phase, it is planned that the program has a positive impact in 1,400 towns and 300,000 students in the region. However, in its initial phase, currently ongoing in the Mifi Department, with Bafoussam as pilot city, will immediately benefit 3 populations, 77 schools and around 73,000 students. 

The project benefits from the direct involvement of the Conseil Régional de l’Ouest, which has promised to ensure the maintenance and management of the system through a monitoring committee, guaranteeing its sustainability in the long term.

This cooperation experience falls within the line of work that ORU Fogar initiated with the sending of two TMB (Transports Metropolitans de Barcelona) to the Department of Dagana, Senegal. That first move - that has allowed the launch of regular school transportation in the region - demonstrated the potential alliances between regional governments, transport firms and international links can have to promote school mobility in Africa. 

With this new delivery to Cameroon, ORU Fogar establishes its role as an interregional cooperation platform, easing the connections between institutions and European actors committed to education, sustainability and territorial development.