adminCaroline Magenga Midlands Reporter
COMMUTERS in Gweru are benefitting from a public transport fare war which has seen fares tumbling from R5 to R3. The development follows the introduction of 76-seater Zupco buses in some of the city’s routes like Mkoba-City and City-Midlands State University.Commuter omnibuses are involved in their own war with pirate taxis which they are trying to push out of business by charging R3, the same fare as Zupco.
In interviews, commuters expressed gratitude to Zupco management for re-introducing buses on urban routes. Most people who work in town said they were happy with the new fares.
Jothame Mupunga of Mkoba Village 6 said most residents had resorted to walking but the reduced fares would allow them to travel easily to town.
“We now have a number of options following the reintroduction of Zupco buses in local urban routes. We were being packed like sardines in commuter omnibuses. The kombi crews forced us to sit in fours but at least with the Zupco buses one travels in comfort. The low fares are definitely a bonus,” said Mupunga.
Another commuter said the reduced fares must be a permanent arrangement.
He said kombi crews had a tendency of using low fares to lure customers but are quick to increase them once people start flocking to them.
“We pray that the R3 fares remain with us forever. It will help us budget for our transport fares weekly if the fares do not fluctuate.
“It is also my prayer that Zupco introduces more buses in all urban routes so that we phase out pirate taxis and kombis,” said a man from Lundi Park who refused to be named.
However, the return of Zupco buses to urban routes has caused panic among commuter omnibus operators. Kombi drivers were crying foul arguing that the Zupco buses forced them to slash commuter fares in a bid to compete.
“We are now operating at a loss. We cannot sustain business with such ridiculous fares,” said a kombi driver.
Another commuter who identified himself only as Forget said the Zupco buses came at an opportune time as it helped them in their bid to drive unregistered taxis out of business.
Said Forget: “We were the first to reduce fares. We slashed our fares to R3 mainly to drive out the pirate taxis. It is not fair that the police always harass us leaving the pirate taxis to operate freely. Most of the pirate taxis belong to police officers.”
Efforts to get a comment from the Zupco management to establish whether there were plans to introduce more buses, were fruitless.
Online Reporter