Bulawayo kombis system to go national
ALL kombi operators will need to form associations before they are allowed to operate as public service providers in line with the new Government public transport policy guidelines.
This will be contained in a new Statutory Instrument that will guide operations of private public transport providers being finalised by Attorney General Advocate Prince Machaya.
Government is set to open up the transport sector to private players as guided by President Mnangagwa’s pronouncement last month.
As part of the urban transport management system, the Government had directed all private kombi operators to join the Zimbabwe Passenger Company (Zupco) franchise for them to be allowed to operate.
However, some players did not join the scheme resulting in public transport challenges.
In an interview, Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo said the legal instrument being crafted will rid the public transport sector of chaos. “We are just awaiting the Attorney General to finalise the Statutory Instrument which will guide the operations of these private players. First and foremost, we want them to be well organised, we don’t want chaos and in the principles that were approved by Cabinet, Government is saying they must form associations so that there is some sort of control
and they have to be registered in the normal sense as a public service vehicle,” said Minister Moyo.
He said the principles will be informed by the Urban Councils and Omnibus Act.
Minister Moyo said Bulawayo, which already had a policy that kombi operators should operate under an association, will have something to build from.
Tshova Mubaiwa Transport Co-op, Bulawayo Public Transporters Association and Bulawayo City Transit Association were the three designated public transporters that were recognised in Bulawayo under its Public Transport Policy.
“Bulawayo was more organised than Harare, but now we will be strict in giving them routes. Even though they were organised, they were not adhering to routes. This new Statutory Instrument will now designate bus stops, bus termini, which will be adhered to by all those who will be given routes. They should display their timetables and they should announce their fares on each route so that the transport sector is transparent to the citizenry,” said Minister Moyo.
He said touts will be prohibited under the new public transport system being crafted.
Minister Moyo said Government expects that new bus stops should be erected in cities as part of improving customer services.
“The responsibility of ensuring that bus stops are properly constituted lies with cities.
There are many private players who want to build these bus stops and we encourage all the cities and towns to allow the private players to partner them as they will end up advertising at these bus stops yet these bus stops in terms of the Omnibus Act and Urban Councils Act belong to councils,” said Minister Moyo.
Public transporters in Bulawayo have welcomed the proposed new policy guidelines. Tshova Mubaiwa Transport Co-op marketing director, Mr Ndabazabo Mabunda, said the proposed transport policy will bring discipline in the transport sector.
“The operations will smoothen up. It will be easier for operators to be guided and controlled using the new regulators that are set to be introduced. The misfits in the system will be easily identified because they have been there for a long time. There were no strong guidelines to control the smooth operations,” said Mr Mabunda.
He said the new policy will even compel those who were refusing to join Bulawayo public transport to join the new system.
BUPTA spokesperson Mr Keeper Ndlovu said the new policy directly speaks to Bulawayo Public Transport Policy that the local authority had operationalised.
“As Bulawayo we are already 10 steps ahead. Anyone who is in the public transport industry will know that operating through an association was effective in Bulawayo. So, we will take it up to the next level and I believe it will work even better since it is being endorsed by Government. This will make administration of the public transport sector much easier and the operators will understand what is needed,” said Mr Ndlovu.
He said the three companies that were operating in Bulawayo had been allocated specific routes.
Mr Ndlovu said even those who did not want to join the sector will be forced to join associations. – The Chronicle
