Bus fare war – commuters lose out

st Z$20 000 instead of the Z$50 000 being charged, police in the city have maintained a heavy presence on every busy road.
More than 100 crew members have been arrested for overcharging and sent to court, where they are being fined Z$1 million for each passenger found in the vehicle at the time of their arrest.
But operators continue to wave defiant fists at the lawmen. Many have grounded their fleet for the past eight weeks in protest over the new fare, which they argue is non-viable.
The result of this pull-out by most operators, has exposed commuters to manipulation by touts, who have capitalised on the transport blues to milk prospective travellers.
During a brief visit to the city’s busiest Egodini bus terminus this week, our correspondent saw commuters stampede to each arriving vehicle, only to be turned away by crews claiming not to be loading.
Touts would then hand-pick a few individuals who would have paid in advance to “book” seats in each vehicle.
Commuters who spoke to The Zimbabwean at the terminus said that they were being made to pay touts an advance fee of Z$200 000 a head to “book” seats.
“If you do not pay you might spend the whole day running up and down because you cannot get into a commuter omnibus as seats will be reserved for those who would have paid in advance. In total, we now pay Z$250 000 for a single trip from the city centre, including the fare because we also pay the Z$50 000 in the kombis. We do not have a choice,” said Simangaliso Nkomo. – Bayete Zitha