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bins.
Chairman of the Greater Harare Council of Commuter Operators Mr Cosmos Mbonjani said his organisation was approaching council with a programme to rehabilitate the bus ranks.
“We want to be given the mandate to repair infrastructure at the termini. Our passengers are complaining that the toilets are always closed and that the lighting system is not there,” he said.
He said the termini should be provided with refuse bins because of the high volume of people using the ranks.
Mr Hanson Choruwa said when commuters are not properly housed in the sheds in a rainy day — they would be at the mercy of operators who can take advantage of the chaos to increase fares.
“When it is raining, we get congested and there is a high risk of commuter operators hiking fares leaving commuters with no option but to board for fear of getting wet,” he said.
The call by the commuting public follows the clampdown on touts and rank marshals by ZRP and council.
The presence of touts and marshals had chased commuters and commuter omnibus operators from designated pick and drop points.
Sheds at the city’s 10 central business district termini are in a deplorable state. Most of the sheds have collapsed posing a serious health hazard to commuters.
The sheds were meant to provide shelter from the sun and rains to commuters.
With the onset of the rainy season commuters are at the mercy of the vagaries of weather.
Mr Choruwa said infrastructure at the Fourth Street bus terminus was not fit for use by commuters.
Ms Constance Makuvano said the dilapidated infrastructure showed that city fathers had no care for commuters.
Ms Rachel Nyathi expressed worry over the mounds of garbage on the rooftops of the remaining sheds which, she said would be washed onto commuters in the event of a storm.
“There are mosquitoes here. We can not stand this,” she said.
Schoolgirl Tariro Moyo said each time there was any sign of rain she abandoned her afternoon lessons to save her books from the getting soaked.
Some commuters complained that vendors were crowding them out of the remaining sheds.
City spokesman Mr Leslie Gwindi said the city had not budgeted for the rehabilitation of the bus ranks.
He said in the interim council was inviting private partners to spruce up the ranks.
“We have no budget for the ranks at the moment. We are, however, willing to engage private partners,” he said.
While the city has deployed traffic enforcement teams, it has not deployed enough personnel to clean the termini.
The skeleton cleaning staff resorts to burning garbage and does not thoroughly clean especially at Market Square and Fourth Street where human waste is all over abandoned sheds.
leeroy