While most bus owners had begun to withdraw their vehicles from the urban areas in favour of their traditional and more viable long distance rural routes, a few still remain and have taken advantage of high fares being charged by commuter omnibuses – their main competitors.
After the latest round of fares increases, which hit commuters on Tuesday, commuter omnibuses or kombis raised their fares from last week’s Z$30m to Z$40m for a single trip, while the buses also increased theirs from Z$10m to Z$20m.
The buses, which by law are allowed to carry 75 passengers seated and standing, are now taking advantage of their low fares, passenger desperation and police corruption to squeeze in extra passengers.
A single bus now carries more than 100 people, with each seat occupied by three people. Standing passengers are squeezed in back-to-back.
A bus conductor who spoke to The Zimbabwean on Sunday in the city on Wednesday said that they were packing in commuters because they had targets to meet, set for them by their bosses.
If I do not do that I may fall short of the target and be reprimanded or fired by my employer. There are also rank marshals and touts that I should pay from the money that I receive from the commuters, while police also want money from me at every roadblock, said the bus conductor.
Meanwhile, traffic police officers manning roadblocks on the city’s roads, who have reduced themselves to the level of toll-gate operators, are said to have, with effect from last week, raised road fees’ to a flat Z$300,000 for each commuter omnibus to continue operating on their’ roads.
Omnibus staff who spoke to our reporter said that those who fail to pay the fare are harassed in different forms, before they are arrested and their vehicles are impounded at Drill Hall police station.
To continue operating, we are forced to pay the amount. It seems that this has been made legal by police bosses themselves, said one conductor.
The corrupt police officers, who do not check any vehicle after stopping it, are now not even ashamed to receive bribes in front of travellers, as it seems corruption has now been embraced in the once-professional ZRP.
Police authorities, however, still argue that they do not entertain graft within their ranks.
Those who fail to pay the fare are harassed in different forms, before they are arrested and their vehicles are impounded at Drill Hall police station.
Post published in: News