Poor planning costs Harare

against proper planning. Out of the 37 posts in the transport section, only 17 officers are employed.  More so the city does not have binding agreements with the operators to enforce that at all times the kombis should be on the road and should use scheduled timetables. Kombi operators can decide to pull out their vehicles from the road or when there is a bigger function elsewhere an operator can dedicate all his/her kombis to a far away destination leaving city commuters stranded.
Others withdraw their vehicles when there is a funeral or a wedding in the family. The city has an estimated 5 000 commuter omnibuses but only 1 835 are registered with council.  Of the registered kombis only 30 percent renewed their operating licences with council. The city maintains a record of all kombis and the routes that they ply.  Allocating routes to kombis helps to spread transport to all suburbs The city has 10 official bus ranks.  A total of 233 kombis operate from the Fourth Street bus terminus while 326 kombis are registered to operate from Charge Office, 82 from the Chinhoyi/Speke bus rank, 63 from corner of Kwame Nkrumah/Chinhoyi, and the biggest number 454 at the Market Square.   Another 64 kombis operate from the corner of Mbuya Nehanda/Nelson Mandela and 10 from Rezende South. Chinhoyi West has 181 registered kombis. Urban planning services director, Mr Psychology Chiwanga, said kombis have never been recommended as the formal urban transport system.