New Transport Minister Evie Tsolaki on Friday said that one of the initiatives she will consider is an expansion to system of park-and-ride services offered around the island, with the aim of reducing traffic congestion in the island’s towns and cities.

“It is one of the suggestions which will be studied because it certainly helps,” she told the Cyprus News Agency, before adding that the offering of park-and-ride services both eases congestion and “increases the availability of parking spaces” in urban areas.

On this front, she said that “traffic is certainly one of the priorities because it has to do with the daily lives of both locals and visitors”, and as such, declared that “we must find ways to alleviate it together with the other competent bodies”.

She said that in her coming meetings with high-ranking civil servants from her ministry, “we will put all the suggestions on the table, see which ones are feasible, and we will come back with more announcements”

Park-and-ride services have run into difficulties in recent months due to a shortage of bus drivers, with it having initially been feared that the route linking the GSP Stadium with central Nicosia, known as the “Pame Express” would be lost as a result.

Transport ministry official Andreas Nikiforou said in March that bus drivers in Cyprus are “like an endangered species”, though the service itself was eventually saved.

At the time, the employers’ and industrialists’ federation (Oev) had suggested that “the problem could be solved by hiring drivers from third countries which drive on the left, such as India”.

However, Disy MP Demetris Demetriou said that a number of laws would have to change to allow this to happen, and as such said, “let’s look at how we can find drivers from the indigenous population”.

At present, bus drivers in Cyprus are required to have a working knowledge of the Greek language – something which precludes must people from abroad, while the acquisition of Cyprus’ “category D” licence required to drive commercial vehicles can take several months.

Drivers are also required to take a written examination, which is available in Greek, Turkish, and English.

In addition to the stringent requirements for bus drivers, Cyprus Public Transport has also warned in recent months that the island’s current crop of bus drivers is ageing out, with drivers retiring faster than they are being hired.

“As older drivers retire, staff numbers are simply not being renewed at the same rate,” Cyprus Public Transport’s chief financial officer Tryfonas Hadjichristoforou said in March.