THE Operation officer of the Dar es Salaam
based public transport company popularly known as ‘Usafiri Dar es Salaam’ or by its acronym ‘UDA’ has said that , the
commuter bus running its operation in the city does not need to follow routing
systems as directed by the Surface and Marine Transport Authority (SUMATRA). for
other commuter buses. Speaking in a telephone interview early this week in Dar
es Salaam, Charles Makeja said that, UDA buses commuting in various city suburbs
are being directed by its management to ply through a particular route whose
arrangement is in accordance with the planning systems UDA had since before. Makenja
confirmed to the Guardian when
contacted for clarification following claims by some commuters who have lost
trust with the once respected public transport company as most of them have the
habit of shortening their routes an aspect which causes inconveniences during
evening picking hours. His clarifications comes amid claims by one passenger who
was caught by this writer last week on Wednesday night at Ubungo commuter bus
stage pondering on his next move after he had been left stranded after being forced
out of one UDA bus on which he was
travelling. The passenger who identified himself as Rashid Kisembo, a resident
of Mbagala Maji Matitu in Temeke district exclusively narrated the sad story to
this writer that he boarded UDA with the registration No. T161 CRC bus at
Mwenge when he knew well that it was going to Buguruni and decided to enter hoping
that once he arrives at Buguruni could have time to connect another one to his
final destination point. But to his great dismay, he was surprised to see that
the bus conductor told passengers to drop on their arrival at Ubungo claiming
that was their destination point and also he added that the bus was not to proceed
ahead and pretended it had encountered with some technical faults. Kisembo who had
a bus ticket bearing serial NO. 236556 issued by the bus conductor was amazed
to see its driver changing its direction
and headed for Kimara-Mbezi. He together with other passengers had no option
except to disembark. Narrating the story Kisembo noted that, when he entered
into a bus at Mwenge station, all passengers on board knew that it was traveling
to Buguruni as this is a normal route for the bus. They were sure of that as
most of them paid the fare and issued with a ticket. However, he continued that
but all of a sudden passengers were greatly astonished to have been told the
bus was to end its journey at Ubungo with pretence that it had encountered with
some technical faults which could need urgent attention by mechanics. However
on hearing that, passengers became so furious demanding for the explanation and
how could it be and yet some of them had already paid the fare. He thought the
operators could refund them and give them clarification a thing that never
happened. The driver and the conductor of the bus were not in a position to
explain to their passengers reasons for what had made them decide to change
direction and instead forced them out insisting that was the end of the
journey, he queried. He further noted that, there were severe exchange of
abusive words between a driver and passengers who became furious demanding for
the explanations, but were duly informed by the driver that UDA has no special
routing systems instead they decide on their own which one should they follow. Efforts by this writer to reach the
authorities concerned at such unlikely time proved futile, but this writer managed
to get contacts of the operation officer which are indicated on a passenger
ticket and interviewed him the next day to get more clarification about the
matter.
In his defense, the operation officer said that, their bus drivers have
the right to shorten their routes if need be as all these routes used by commuter
buses in the city belong to UDA, a public transport company whose part of its
stake is owned by the government. Citing the example of Mwenge-Ubungo-Buguruni
route, Makenja noted that, the selection of the route is arranged by the
management and thereafter it depends entirely on the discretion of the driver
to decide to stop at a particular bus stage plying in a particular route
mentioned and pack passengers at his own will. He further clarified that,
suppose a bus destines at Ubungo from Mwenge, then the driver might decide to
alight passengers and pack others and continue with the journey irrespective of
the orders issued by the company’s management. Investigations by the Guardian
over these clarifications can prove that, this is contrary to Sumatra’s directives
which require every city transporter to follow their designated routes as arranged
by the national authority which does not segregate between the public and private
operators. Contacted for comment, Sumatra’s Manager of Corporate Communications
David Mziray said in a telephone interview on Thursday this week that, his
authority had long issued a directive to UDA management requiring them to fix a
sign board of the routes on their buses through which they ply for
identification but seemingly have done nothing. However,
he also noted that all commuter routes in the city of Dar es Salaam belongs to
UDA as stipulated in the laws governing city transportation, adding that, it
shouldn’t be a reason for them to defy such orders. He
said according to the law, UDA was supposed to arrange routes for other private
city transporters as well as issuing transport licenses but it doesn’t mean
that, they shouldn’t use such monopoly powers to operate the way they like an
aspect that cause inconveniences to commuters in the city. Two
months ago, the Dar es Salaam Commuter Bus Owners Association (Darcoboa) and
the Association of
Transporters in Dar es Salaam (UWADAR) issued a one month ultimatum to
Sumatra demanding the Authority to formalise routes of operation for Shirika la
Usafiri Dar es Salaam (UDA), similar to other commuter bus operators in the
city. Darcoboa chairman Sabri Mabruk was
quoted as saying that if Sumatra fails to set up regulated routes for UDA, the organisation
would rub away all painted bus side lines that define specific routes for every
bus and let them operate freely ... take
any route when you wish, just like UDA. He insisted that
should Sumatra fail to avert the wrangle …and conform to their concerns by
April 1st this year, they give themselves freedom to operate in an
unregulated way. According to him, UDA is currently
operating under a private company, the Simon Group and not the
government as it was the case before, but if UDA drivers breach road
regulations the traffic police remain silent, only dealing with daladala buses. Commenting on
the matter, the executive chairman of the Simon Group who
run UDA operation in the city Robert Kisena was recently quoted
as saying that, their buses woulkd operate in formal routes as regulated by the
responsible authority, urging for joint and peaceful dialogue among
stakeholders in the transport sector operating in the city.
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