Source: Kombis pave way for new system | The Sunday Mail July 24, 2016
Debra Matabvu
Government is drawing up a modern urban mass transport system worth millions of dollars with expertise and funding from the World Bank. The coming dispensation eliminates commuter omnibuses, replacing them with high-volume vehicles and new road and, possibly, rail infrastructure. The system will likely take after Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya and South Africa where the World Bank has helped de-congest urban roads.
Government officials will visit Tanzania and Ethiopia soon to assess their models. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania’s capital, has thirty-nine 150-seater buses and 101 others with 80-passenger capacities courtesy of World Bank support worth US$180 million. The city serves 300 000 commuters daily.
Secretary for Local Government, Public Works and National Housing, Engineer George Mlilo, told The Sunday Mail that high-volume buses would link central business districts to intra-city locations, while kombis would be restricted to inter-suburb routes until their decommissioning.
“A delegation leaves for Tanzania and Ethiopia (in early August 2016) to assess mass transport systems set up by the World Bank there. We will identify a suitable model and then engage the financier.
“Government is committed to resuscitating the reliable and affordable public transport system of the 1990s, and is, therefore, working to actualise this project. There are challenges with commuter omnibus crews that hike fares and switch routes willy nilly,” he said.
The ministry’s director of physical planning, Mrs Ethel Mlalazi, added: “Government has already engaged different players such as local authorities over the matter, and we have, through Zim-Asset, identified the system as a long-term initiative.
“The coming on board of institutions such as the World Bank will help accelerate the process as it has been on the cards for quite some time now.” University of Zimbabwe urban planning lecturer Mr Smart Dumba said it was important to get the system right as doing things wrong could literally be fatal.
“We are talking of moving large numbers of people at the same time. As such, technical feasibility studies provided by the World Bank will help determine feasibility before funds are poured into the project. Proper planning is required before investment in the project can be made. This will ensure the initiative does not fall into the same trap as Zupco.”
Traffic congestion in Zimbabwe’s major cities, especially Harare, has caused headaches to residents and authorities. The problem has been directly linked to expanding vehicle numbers, including commuter omnibuses that became the main mode of mass transport after the Zimbabwe United Passenger Company failed to cope with volumes in the 1990s.
Over 4 500 individuals are registered as kombi owners, according to the City of Harare Department of Urban Planning. However, it is understood that another 6 000 kombis operate illegally in Harare. It is estimated that over one million people use urban public transport across Zimbabwe daily.
COMMENTS
“Government is committed to resuscitating the reliable and affordable public transport system of the 1990s, and is, therefore,…………YOU MEAN……THE SYSTEM THAT WAS IN PLACE BEFORE …….1980……ALL YOU TOUCH GETS DESTROYED..!!!!!!!
Another parastatal to thieve from aish……….
affordable reliable!!!! what a joke! those zanu pf monkeys have NO PLAN.
Smith Regime had an efficient and neat way of getting to work in buses. There was no need for useless and unsafe kombis. But Mugabe and his ZANU PF destroyed all that. What ever this son of Bona touched became clay. He touched the bread basket of Africa, its now a desert of Africa, there is nothing except hungry angry faces. His greedy hands extended to the farms, there is nothing coming from the farms. He went into dairy industry, cows are no longer producing enough milk. He touched mining sector, he looted 15 b, and built a mansion. That very house is going to be the next state house for the future president of Zimbabwe.
SHAME ON YOU MATIBIRI. MUCON’CO WAMAI. You killed our once beautiful Zim and now you keep piling promise after promise. Your head is empty. You are a dreamer with no competencies whatsoever. All you know is preparing for elections where you lie and lie and hope for votes and rigging.
PAM….HATA
Is the system different from the 75 seater Harare United Buses and the train buses?
Harare United Omnibus Company was one of the best run companies before Independence, with well serviced routes, polite drivers and efficient inspectors. What happened?
The company officials and especially government officials did not have to go outside the country to look at other platforms and methods of operation. This is just another junket is it not?
Yes and after the infrastrcuture is ready they end up as in Ethiopia and Tanzania with no means of transport (Busses or BRT vehicles as the ne w fashion bus is called) Zimbabwe has to look for PPP projects but which Private company will invest in a losmaking operation. If the operational costs have to be paid by the ticket prices vehicles will be empty. Knowing Zimbabwe ,systems as in Dar Es Salaam are not needed als those of Addis Abeba are overdone. each country region has his own specific problems and in the case of Addis and Dar the infrastructure was simply not there (not at all comparable with what Ziomabwe had and has.)
Symply refurbish the old infrastructuur and bus lines subsidise the tickets and 80% of the demand is covered , make a study how to sole the remaining. Will save a lot of tax payers money even if it is a Worldbank project it has to be paid better use it on supporting the present PT operation.
An ET is of course you see,
The backbone of our economy,
For everyday they take their routes,
For everyone to work commutes.
The problem though is clear for me,
There’s little room for all us three,
Inside a 404 we squash –
Can’t even reach to pay my dosh!
The driver is a busy man,
Multi-tasking, guiding his van,
The view depends on where you sit,
And whether you can deal with it.
Along the highway, off we go,
If we get there, all will know,
The same experience we’ll relive,
At 5 o’clock, should our boss forgive.
You look around and you wonder,
Even feel a little fonder,
Of a crazy world around us,
In our shaky omnibus.
But an ET is not what you think –
An ‘Extra-Terrestrial’ on the blink,
A public van and not a bus–
It’s an Emergency Taxi just for us!…..