Business View Caribbean, July/August 2018

58 59 AUTOBUSBEDRIJF CURAÇAO upgrades over the last few years, with hopes of bringing Curacao’s many small bus companies under its umbrella as part of a public transporta- tion cooperative. “I have been the company director since May 1, 2016 and from that moment on we have made a lot of changes,” explains Cijntje. “It’s a transfor- mation because, internally, we made a lot shifts in process redesign to try and better the service we are providing to the public. One of our poli- cies has been to automate important processes. That is a very important aspect of the trans- formation because we have a basic business strategy and that strategy is to come to a new business model.” That “new business model” reflects the fact Autobusbedrijf is not the only player in Curacao’s public transportation market. “We have here on the island 350 to 400 smaller buses with a ca- pacity of nine-to-15 seats which also are players in the same market,” says Cijntje. “We, as a gov- ernment company, think that we have to change the strategy to a partnership and we are now in a position to do that.” Improving mobility for the island’s almost 160,000 residents, as they journey to and from I have been the company director since May 1, 2016 and from that moment on we have made a lot of changes. It’s a transformation because, in- ternally, we made a lot shifts in process redesign to try and better the service we are providing to the public. One of our policies has been to auto- mate important processes. That is a very import- ant aspect of the transformation because we have a basic business strategy and that strategy is to come to a new business model. JOHN CIJNTJE GENERAL DIRECTOR jobs, school, socializing, and patronizing busi- nesses, is the ultimate goal of a more unified approach, he explains. Cijntje says a trans- formed ABC can be the catalyst for making the cooperative a reality. “The business that we consider ourselves to be in is one of creating and developing the economy,” he says. “That is why we consider it very important to leave the business strategy of competing and to go to the business strategy of partnering with the other players in a joint-ven- ture structure. Those partners won’t be like col- leagues or employees of the Autobusbedrijf, but they will be getting a contract to deliver service under the flag of the Autobusbedrijf company.” Curaçao’s government has tried to create a cooperative for 25 years but, thus far, the effort has not succeeded in attracting the island’s many small bus operators to the fold. Cijntje be- lieves that the organizational and technological pieces, such as the company’s automated plat- forms, are now in place to reverse that trend. “That was an aspect that in the history of the company wasn’t there yet, but now we are reaching there and that’s why we think that now is the time that we profile ourselves to the