SUMATRA turns against upcountry bus transporters

AS the Christmas religious occasion is around the corner, the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA) has issued a strong warning to upcountry bus operators to desist from hiking fare tickets to passengers travelling to upcountry regions, a common malpractice shown when the occasion is nearing. Sumatra’s warning has come about when it was rumoured that there is a looming fare hike at Ubungo upcountry bus terminal in Dar es Salaam as passengers who go for booking are told the seats are full for a particular day they want to travel. Sumatra’s Public Affairs Manager, David Mziray said early this week in Dar es Salaam that, his firm as a regulator has imposed a fine of Sh. 250,000 cash to those found guilty of such a malpractice as they would have violated the legal conditions slated in their operating transport licenses or otherwise will face revocation. A random survey which was carried out on Wednesday this week at Ubungo bus terminal found out that, passengers at the terminal were getting normal services from ticket agents with some of them requesting for a discount on a particular fare price. However, when contacted for comments, one booking clerk who preferred anonymity dismissed claims leveled against them and noted that, if such malpractice were there then it must have been done by few unscrupulous middlemen at the terminal. The Secretary General of the Association of upcountry Bus Transport Agency Hamisi Maneno also refuted the allegations when contacted for clarification and noted that, his agency has been faced with such claims and without proof, but he is surprised to see that claimants have failed to prove their argument beyond reasonable doubts. However, contrary to other sources, the Secretary General of the Tanzania Bus Owners Association (TABOA) Ernea Mrutu has asked passengers to book their tickets right from the designated booking offices located within the bus stand as most conmen are middlemen who hoards tickets and later sell them illegally. Mrutu was speaking in a telephone interview on Thursday when contacted for comments about the matter. However, he added that passengers must be careful at this time of the year when there is a great influx who aspires for traveling tickets.

Meanwhile, Sumatra has amounted a crackdown to net the defaulting commuter buses which are notorious for violating various traffic rules including that of shortening their routes in the city of Dar es Salaam. The exercise by SUMATRA which started three weeks ago came about as a result of the public outcry most of whom commuters who have been complaining about the misbehaviors shown by the daladala operators especially during evening pick hours. “There are some daladala operators who have been charging higher the amount of fare along their designated routes, while others shortens their routes and double charged their passengers” he said.According to Mziray, this is a long standing problem and is a continuous exercise and in order to succeed he has asked for people to cooperate with law enforcers in order to help net the defaulters who are causing inconveniences to passengers. A preliminary investigation by this paper has discovered that, most commuter buses shorten out their routes in a bid to charge their passengers twice or thrice for a single trip. A spot check carried out throughout last week in some bus stages within the city like Mwenge, Ubungo, Buguruni, and Tazara saw some buses which are not designated for the route alights their passengers pretending to be the end of the journey, and thereby a conductor announces to passengers his next destination and proceeds ahead by connecting with other passengers. According to Mziray, his organization has been taking stern measures against defaulters wherever possible though sometimes is difficult to control all of them. When contacted for comments, bus drivers and conductors who preferred anonymity said that, they have to do this in order to accumulate enough sum of money needed by their employer at the end of a day’s contract before they stop. However, others cited the regular increase of fuel prices and also the spiraling operational costs.