Chronicle Editor
Uzile Mkwananzi, Sunday News Reporter
THE Bulawayo Urban Passenger Transport Association (Bupta) has said it is coming up with a rejuvenated spirit in the city and will ensure they reclaim all the routes in the city, which had been taken over by illegal taxis popularly known as mshikashikas.
Bupta had stopped operating due to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions which only allowed Zupco-affiliated commuter omnibuses and buses to operate the intra-city routes.
However, this had seen mshikashikas flooding the intra-city routes, with criminal elements also taking advantage of the developments, robbing passengers.
In the wake of the criminal activities the police have called on members of the public to avoid boarding the illegal taxis.
Bupta said their more than 500 commuter omnibuses were more than enough to service the entire city.
In an interview with Sunday News, the association’s spokesperson, Mr Morgen Msipa, said their core business as Bupta was the provision of transport to the people at their given routes, assuring the public that there will not be any cases of transport shortages in the city as their community omnibuses were ready to service all routes.
“Bupta Limited has a fleet of 541 commuter omnibuses as we speak and these are more than enough such that we can actually delegate to any route within our area of operation.
“The kombis that we have can be directed by the director of operations to go and operate at any given route that does not have enough kombis. We have lots and lots of kombis,” said Mr Msipa.
Some of the routes that Bupta has since re-introduced their commuter omnibuses are the Sunninghill and Sauerstown routes, where they are charging US$1 for three or five a trip.
“We sat down as management looked at the matter and also took into consideration requests that were being made by the residents of the areas that we should provide the service to them.
“After that we decided that we should resume operations in that area hence we have resumed and we are now operating there,” said Mr Msipa.
“Yes, we are charging R5 a trip for the Sauerstown route, for example, we sat down and looked at the following; the distance that we are going to cover and the fuel consumption that we are using to operate in that route. The R5 that we are charging at Sauerstown will sustain our operations,” he said.
Mshikashikas were charging US$1 plus R5 for two, to service the same route.
Mr Msipa also went on to say that as much as that does not make sense to many, the fare they are charging makes “perfect business” sense to them.
Mr Msipa said as Bupta they were working within the confines of the law of Zimbabwe and the city’s by-laws.
“We follow what the Motor Transportation Act of this country requires us to do as we are allowed in terms of the laws of Zimbabwe to operate.
“So we are just operating within the confines of the law. We are not there to cause chaos with anyone, we are the legitimate operators in the areas that we are operating in,” he said.
He further noted that the Bulawayo Public Transport Policy does not allow them to partake in any unauthorised business as they are a legitimate association.
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