City commuters in Dar es Salaam calls for police help

SOME Dar es Salaam city commuters have called on the regional traffic police to intervene in the current situation whereby they are experiencing problems of boarding commuter buses destined to their respective areas of domicile during evening and night hours. Interviewed passengers at Buguruni commuter bus stand complained that, “they have to connect their journey by boarding more than three buses in order to arrive to their respective homes before mid-nights”. Investigations by this blog paper has overlooked into the matter and found out that, the persisting problem is due to few commuter buses serving the area and the habit of some bus operators of not going the whole distance of their designated routes as required. The most affected passengers are those who head to far flung areas such as Gongo La Mbotto, Mbagala, Mwenge Tegeta and Mbezi. In order for them to reach their destinations, they have to make a number of connections an aspect which forces them to pay either thrice or more for a single journey. The growing scarcity of buses has caused commuters to be subjected to the harassment of scrambling to board the few available ones, the exercise which paves way for thieves who takes the advantage once mingle and pretends to be passengers with a view to make their mischief. A spot check at Buguruni commuter bus stop last week found scores of passengers who had been stranded at around 22:30 at night, most of whom were women and children who had traveled from other places like Mwenge, Tegeta and Ubungo waiting to connect their journeys to their final destinations in places like Gongo La Mboto, Mbagala, Jeti Lumo and as newly established Kitunda suburb. Speaking to this writer, some passengers expressed concern over the situation. They said they have been spending a lot of money everyday as fare to and from their work places. However, some of them have blamed the traffic police manned on the road for their failure to curb the situation. Those unable to afford such connections for a double trip journeys and pay more fares, spend more hours on the stage waiting for service and consequently find themselves reporting late at their homes.

Due to impeding situation, they have asked the police force (Traffic) to intervene in order to ensure their safety. Preliminary investigations over the matter has shown that, shortage of transport in some routes is an exacerbating factor which is largely caused by notorious habit which is being practiced by daladala drivers who are fond of diverting their routes. However, investigations by this paper further shows that, ‘the violation of changing legal routes by daladala operators is growing at an alarming rate in the city of Dar es Salaam and the deployed police traffic seems not to take serious actions on the spot to curb the defaulters’. Some interviewed passengers say that, “there is a high traffic demand in the evenings and night hours before mid night, hence commuter transport in between these hours is at its peak in most parts of the city suburbs as workers stream back home”. Lucas Mwenda, who resides at Mbagala works with Twiga Cement at Wazo on the outskirts of Dar es Salaam city, has developed a tendency of waking up early at dawn and come back to his home at dusk. He wonders why traffic police is not taking an appropriate action against daladala defaulters so as to ensure smooth operations of the commuter service all along the long distance routes. According to him, this problem has been existing for a long time in most Dar city commuter routes and wonders that none of the law enforcers has tried to prevent the vice. “It is very disgusting to note that some commuter operators violate traffic rules openly and the traffic police do not bother to book them”, said one businessman who had been experiencing problems of boarding a commuter bus during evening hours. Cornered for comment, Public Affairs Manager of Surface and Marine Transport Authority (SUMATRA) David Mziray who admitted being aware of such violations, said his institution plans to revoke the driver’s licenses if found notorious of such malpractice. According to Dar es Salaam police traffic Chief, Mohammed Mpinga, his force is doing all it can in order to curb the vice. But due to few police traffic deployed on the road, and coupled by timeframe for which most daladala violates the rules, it has been difficulty to control the situation. According to him, the penalty for a driver who diverts his route is fined between Tsh. 10,000 and Tsh. 25,000 or withdrawal of his driving license for three weeks to six months or both. But critics have commented that, the punishment given to them was not enough to streamline the defaulters. Efforts to reach the Chairman of Dar es Salaam Bus Association (DARCOBOA) Sabri Mabrouk to comment on their members and their habit in general proved futile as we take this news to press.