admin“There is no taxi war looming in Bulawayo. As traffic police, we will carry on with our duties to patrol our roads and continue to encourage private operators to register their vehicles. Last week we impounded more than 20 vehicles and this is a continuous exercise. The vehicles are still at the Vehicle Inspection Department (VID),” said Supt Mhlanga.
“These operators are there to be arrested until they put their houses in order and register their vehicles, according to the Motoring and Transportation Act.”
Supt Mhlanga said the police were prepared to work with the transport operators in harmony, and urged them to adhere to the traffic rules and regulations that were put in place.
He said the police would at the end of this week finalise the issue of route cards that would be conducted in conjunction with the Bulawayo City Council.
The route cards would be given to registered public transporters at designated loading points and would be produced at any road blocks along the way.
“We have come up with a plan to give out route cards to registered transport operators in a bid to remove unregistered transport operators. The route cards are ready and we have since distributed them to traffic consultative committees and chairpersons of different routes in Bulawayo,” said Supt Mhlanga.
“We will come together at the end of this week to discuss and strategise how we would conduct the exercise. The route cards will simply serve as proof to traffic police at roadblocks that commuter omnibuses carried their passengers from designated areas.”
He said it was the mandate of the police to work with and within the communities to bring order for the benefit of the public and the transport operators.
“The traffic consultative committees, headed by members of the public have to maintain good relations with the police and the public. They should come to us and give ideas on how we could help each other in eliminating the use of illegal pick-up points.
“We encourage a situation where we discuss and solve all our problems as a family. Associations have come together and sorted out their differences and now we hope that the situation will improve with time,” said Supt Mhlanga.
The Bulawayo Public Transporters Association (Bupta) has condemned the illegal transport operators, operating from undesignated areas, saying they were taking away business from them, although they did not pay anything required by the law.
During a meeting last week, members of Bupta said they were prepared to help the police and the city council eliminate the illegal transporters.
Online Reporter