ZUPCO bows to bus owner’s pressure

Government has approved an upward review of hire fees for commuter omnibuses contracted under the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) franchise, in a move expected to immediately ease transport challenges.

The Ministry of Finance and Economic Development last week doubled hire fees for kombis from $10 000 to $20 300 to motivate private players to join the franchise.

Negotiations for a review of hire fees for privately-owned high-volume buses are ongoing and will likely be completed this week.

Privately-owned commuter omnibuses recently withdrew from the franchise citing low hire fees and a growing payment backlog.

In response to the transport challenges, which are largely affecting Harare commuters, Government has drawn up a cocktail of interim measures that are set to immediately ease problems affecting the capital’s mass public transport system.

It almost emerged yesterday that Government would soon be liberalising the public transport system to complement  services being provided by Zupco.

The measures include a review of the Zupco hire fees, reintroduction of express bus lanes, procuring new buses for the public transporter this month and introducing an afternoon commuter train service.

This year alone, Government will buy over 500 buses for Zupco.

In addition, plans are underway to use data from the recently concluded housing and population census to inform the deployment of coaches.

The full census report will be released in the next three months.

In an interview, Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo said major transit routes being constructed under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme (ERRP) will now have dedicated bus lanes.

“Last week’s transport challenges were mainly caused by the pulling out of commuter omnibuses under the Zupco franchise,” said Minister Moyo.

“We have engaged Treasury and they have approved the upward review of the daily hire fees given to the kombis.

“So we expect the situation to normalise.

“We have also started engaging all stakeholders, including the Ministry of Transport (and Infrastructural Development) and local authorities on the issue of dedicated bus lanes and streamlining roads to ensure the amount of time in transit by buses is lessened.

“Some of the work, which is set to bring sanity on our roads, is being done under the Emergency Road Rehabilitation Programme. We are also expecting an additional consignment of buses at the end of this month, which is expected to alleviate transport challenges in cities, while some of the buses will be sent to rural areas.

“So we have started implementing a number of strategies such as construction of infrastructure and acquiring more buses.”

Announcing measures to prop up the economy and address the transport challenges yesterday, President Mnangagwa said regulations announcing the liberalisation of the transport sector will be announced soon.

“Government is proceeding to open up the public transport system for other players in order to complement the services being provided by Zupco, in line with the reduction in Covid-19 cases and the subsequent opening up of the economy,” said the President.

“To complement the above measures, Government will allow for the duty-free importation for a period of 12 months for vehicles which meet regulations to be issued.

“The liberalisation of the public transport system shall be done under terms and conditions to be published by Government.

“The police would need to ensure that law and order is adhered to as the behaviour on our roads needs to be seriously attended to.

“Non-adherence to the rules and regulations to be gazetted would not be tolerated.”

Zupco acting chief executive officer Mr Evaristo Madangwa said close to 500 buses have been deployed onto Harare’s roads.

“We are gradually building capacity by using both road and rail services,” Mr Madangwa said.

“Soon we are going to introduce an afternoon run for our train services.

“The census result soon to come out will also guide the current levels of population by place.

“This will also aid in correctly aligning our transport services across the nation.

“In the meantime, Government is doing all in its power to assist us in procuring more buses so that we can be able to service the public.

“More than 500 will be delivered before end of the year.”

The new buses, he added, will be deployed to areas with high-population volumes.

—Sunday Mail

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