This is a somewhat shortsighted view of the opportunity. I have heard some speculation that the local government is considering “solving” this problem by banning all Hiaces (minivans) from travelling inside the city of Praia and creating a monopoly for bus transportation as the only alternative (besides taxis) inside of the city limits. In other words, the proposal is to use an economic sledgehammer to kill one commercial ant in order to benefit another commercial ant.

The lifeblood of an economy is the free movement of goods and labor. A bus service is clearly one of the critical components that facilitate the effective flow of the blood stream in the economy. But, the result of establishing controls on free commerce is the creation of major economic imbalances. In other words, the proposed approach will lead to economic problems which may be much worse than the perceived problem.

These bus companies and the local government need to look at the problem in a different way. The issue is one of supply and demand. The only reason that the minivans running the routes illegally and capturing a big share of the travelling public within the city of Praia is that there is a particular demand for transportation by the public but the Moura Company is not effectively supplying the services to meet that demand. They are falling way short of the mark! Thus the minivans are entering, though illegally, to fulfill the needs of the public and in the manner that the public demands. Think about it, fuel doesn’t cost any more or less for the minivan driver than it does for the bus company. If the minivans can make a profit, why can’t Moura?

The travelling public has a simple demand … they want a RELIABLE bus service (i.e., with sufficient frequency) at a reasonable price. When you have to get to work at a particular time, it is not acceptable to spend 20 minutes waiting for a bus in a tiny city like Praia. Given the size of its population, there are simply too few buses in the capital city of Praia and no discernible schedules. Is it any wonder the Moura company is a failed business?

The solution is simple. Rather than constricting commerce or creating imbalances elsewhere in the economy, the Moura Company needs to provide SUFFICIENT buses to meet the demand and to establish a SCHEDULE so that travelling public knows the frequency at which they can expect a bus and even the exact times a bus will be at certain locations in the city. Of course, one must strike a balance in order to be profitable. For example, just as too few buses running without a schedule won’t lead to business success, too many buses isn’t financially feasible either.

To find that balance, the Moura Company needs to ask its customers about their needs … how long is too long to wait for a bus in Praia? Of course they have no clue. This is another challenge with too many businesses in Cape Verde … they never survey their clients to understand their needs. Worse, even when clients complain loudly, the companies don’t respond. So how can they possibly meet the needs of the clients? The result .. failed businesses, government intervention/interference, and “solutions” that address the symptoms of problems instead of addressing the root causes of the problems.

Furthermore, Moura or any bus company taking their place needs to be more innovative. They need new blood and new ideas. Here’s a simple idea with an inconsequential cost: Today, the bus company issues ticket stubs with a number when you enter the bus and pay the fare. Yet I never heard the bus company, which is totally aware that it is losing customers, regularly awarding a prize such as a free one-month pass – in a well publicized drawing. If you ride the bus frequently, it would cost you nothing to contend for this prize. And if you were thinking about taking the illegal minivan, you might reconsider if you knew you were giving up the free chance for a shot at a free bus-pass for a month. This stuff is not rocket science folks.

I encourage readers of Atlantico Weekly to read the book Freakonomics, by the economist Steven Levitt. You may also wish to check out my blog http://investincv.blogspot.com/ for additional perspective on economics and investments in Cape Verde.

Angelo B.

For example, if a tourist arrives in Sal, say from England, this is counted as a disembark … when they return to England, this is counted as an embark. So each tourist is counted twice. Similarly, if a domestic traveler goes from Santiago to Fogo, this is counted as one embark (in Santiago) and one disembark (in Fogo). When they return home to Santiago, they again get counted twice. So, is this FOUR passengers or ONE passenger? Logically, this is one and the same PERSON who got counted FOUR times!

Even a simple smell test would have revealed that the numbers are misinterpreted at best or deliberately exaggerated at worst. Cape Verde has about 400,000-450,000 tourist visits per year. Where did the other one million “passengers” magically come from in this report? Domestic? Cape Verde only has a half million residents and they surely all did not take the plane twice.

Once again, Asemana Online has laid an awful smelling egg. Quality and editorial rigor is sorely lacking at this newspaper. Cape Verde deserves much better than this from its news media! The problem with this type of cowboy journalism is that news travels far and wide in the 21st century. And when people read what appears to be non-sense, all credibility is lost in the country.

Naldim

You have to Keep this up; it gives a wonderful insight to the inner sights of the islands “Love it”

I also agree the government should be doing more for the investors that stand to lose so much money because of the developers taking the law into their own hands and destroying the good reputation of the islands. As it stands, no one will invest if things don’t change !

This is a preposterous statement by the reporter who is quoting a Top of The Props report published by TheMoveChannel. This is a BRITISH company so presumably, all the enquirers are British residents. So while this is great news for Cape Verde, the Times reporter clearly meant, “In August, Cape Verde attracted 2.94 per cent of all enquiries on the overseas property portal, making it the ninth most popular property destination AMONG BRITISH residents.”

Ironically, AtlanticoWeekly in the same issue published another story, this one by AFP entitled, “The life of Cape Verde’s Stone Crushers.” One of the workers interviewed stated, “Life here is as hard as the stone.”

So on the one hand, we have some foreign property pusher claiming that Cape Verde is the 9th most popular property destination in the world, and on the other hand someone who actually lives there say that life in CV is as hard as a stone. Maybe these workers are crushing stones for a few shekels for all this 9th-in-the-world property development that is supposedly going on?

After having read it I just would like to draw your attention to off the track towns, such as the one called PEDRA BADEJO on the Island of Santiago- the hometown of Katchas, the father of Funana Music. The place is worth visiting as much as it is no purpose to look for it in the guide books- they all will direct you to touristic Tarrafal, which very nice place by the way. But still, touristic.

Relax on the vast beach, wandering through narrow streets of a real cape verdean town, ishermen at work, hiking opportunities, fruit plantations or grog factories.

I came to Pedra Badejo accidentally and the town has really got my heart so I thought it`s worth spreading the word.

Ps. When it comes to accommodation- there`s place for everybody as well- you can stay in comfortable beach hotel or you can simply put your tent at the beach!

But once again, Asemana Weekly’s reporting proved of the highest order of incompetence. Asemana claimed that Leila was the first black Miss Universe. This is absolute rubbish or a deliberate fabrication in what appears to be Asemana’s quest to exaggerate all stories that have a hint of Cape Verde within them.

The first black Miss Universe was Janelle “Penny” Commissiong, hailing from the Caribbean island of Trinidad & Tobago, who won the title in 1977. That’s over 30 years ago. That same island also had the SECOND black Miss Universe, Wendy Fitzwilliams, in 1998! [Amazingly, that Caribbean island produced a third beauty queen, Giselle LaRonde, who won the title of Miss World in 1986.]

The third black Miss Universe was from Africa – Botswana – in 1999. Her name was Mpule Kwelagobe. She was actually crowned by the 2nd black Miss Universe, Fitzwilliams who had won the previous year!

A simple web search (Google, YouTube or Wikipedia) would have immediately revealed to the Asemana reporter that the claim made in the story was patently false. Here is the proof:

Commisiong – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhs4D8Dar6c
Fitzwilliams – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwKbjuGrrg0
All three previous black Miss Universe winners: http://bit.ly/nGqxVx.

So Leila Lopes is the FOURTH, not the first. Regardless, the sequence is unimportant …Leila simply happens to be a beautiful black woman who just put Africa squarely back on the map for beautiful and talented young women breaking the negative stereotypes of African women held in the West.

Angelo
http://greatcvadventure.blogspot.com/2011/05/respect-for-women-of-cape-verde.html

Again, Asemana writes exaggerated and misleading stories about Cape Verde´s popularity as a vacation destination among Europe´s travellers. While it is true that Cape Verde is being discovered, it is also true that it has a very long way to go to become well known as a vacation destination. For example, today, even a basic knowledge of Cape Verde´s tourism market reveals that most flights bringing tourists into Cape Verde (Sal and Boa Vista) are CHARTERED flights and are not regularly scheduled commercial flights. How on earth this could possibly result in Cape Verde´s accession to the even top 10 destinations for travellers from ANY European country is beyond magic.

Asemana continues to lose credibility with such exaggerated conclusions that defy both logic and the truth. Let´s Bonus is an online discount-shopping service. It is less than two years old and is itself not fully established in Spain as a travel agency/tour operator. Asemana appears to have ulterior motives by extrapolating Let´s Bonus´results to suggest that Cape Verde is the third most sought vacation destination by the entire Spanish vacationing public, or else its reporters are simply and shockingly incompetent.

It is not the first time that Asemana has taken a small piece of information about vacation destinations and exploded it to preposterous proportions to generate sensational stories about Cape Verde. This is not helpful for the country.

Angelo