Home | News | BUS FARE HIKE: COMMUTERS FEEL ROBBED

BUS FARE HIKE: COMMUTERS FEEL ROBBED

27/04/2022 08:33:00 Nhlanganiso Mkhonta

Font size:

MBABANE – The current confusion over the implementation of the bus fare hike is a cause for concern among commuters.

Commuters who were interviewed by this publication at the Mbabane Bus Rank yesterday raised numerous concerns and anger over the jumbled up bus fare hikes by the public transport operators. The commuters said some of the public transport workers were charging them different fares on the same route. They said when one took a kombi in the morning when going to work they paid a different amount to that paid in the afternoon when returning home. One of the commuters who travelled from Nkoyoyo, said in one kombi she would pay E12.50, but when bordering another she would be charged E12.80. The commuter said this often caused too much argument as to how much exactly they were supposed to pay.

Andile Maseko from Ezulwini said as commuters, they felt robbed as sometimes they fought with the conductors over change because they did not know exactly how much they had to pay. He said as he always commuted from Ezulwini to Manzini for work in the morning, he would sometimes pay E20 in other kombis, while others would charge him E26. He said it was even worse when he travelled from Manzini to Mbabane because sometimes he would pay E30 or E34. Maseko asked for the responsible stakeholders to regulated the fares because the jumbled up prices affected commuters when budgeting. Nomsa Lukhele, who travels from Bhunya to Siphocosini, said in her route they were sometimes charged E20 or E26, which was confusing to them as to how much was the actual cost to travel on the said route.

Concern

Lukhele said another concern was that the bus fare hike was implemented in the middle of the month, which made it difficult for them to adjust. She wished that the hike should have been implemented at least at the beginning of May in order to allow them to prepare themselves as commuters. During a visit to the bus rank, it was noted that some of the public transport workers were still charging the old fares. One of the routes where passengers were still paying the old fares was Mbabane to Maphalaleni, where it was E20 per trip. Another route that was still charging the old fares was Mbabane to Nhlangano, where buses were charging E60 or E70 for Muhle Tours alone. Meanwhile, it was reported yesterday that buses were retaining their fares until their operators met today wherein they would all have an input on the next step, according to the President of the Buses Association, Duma Msibi.

Msibi said this followed that a meeting that was set to discuss the fares on Monday fell through due to rains. He said their meeting, which would have decided also on the grace period for commuters was postponed to today. He encouraged all bus owners countrywide to converge at Madoda Centre at 10am today for their meeting. “This will help us take a decision and each bus owner’s input will help us have a collective voice on the way forward,” he said. He was then asked which fares were they charging at this instance following that the Eswatini Government Extraordinary, No. 69 of 2022, titled ‘The Maximum Bus and Taxi Fares (Amendment) Regulations 2022, was published on Friday (April 22, 2022). The publication of the gazette, according to the Director of Works in the Ministry Public Works and Transport, Mduduzi Lukhele, gives public transport owners the power to charge the new fares with immediate effect.

Notification

Lukhele said having a period to notify commuters of the new prices was a courtesy extended by the public transport operators to their clients in an effort to ensure that they did not get surprised by the new fares. On the other hand, the gazette states that it is an amendment of Legal Notice No.1 of 2020 as it offers a reviewed price list. It states that a charge for any journey that shall be up to eight kilometres (km) shall be E10, while an additional amount of E0.70 shall be accumulated per additional km. It further states that a charge of E0.66 for a journey in excess of 50km shall be added. In light of these new price adjustments, some public transport operators had already effected them without the publication of the gazette. This was much against the norm wherein the different public transport associations met and discussed the new fares before being implemented.

Swaziland Local Transport Association (SLTA) National Chairperson Ambrose Dlamini conceded to the anomaly. He said the introduction of the new bus fares had brought confusion.
Dlamini said their fear was that the untidiness of the implementation of the new fares could lead to challenges within the bus rank. Making an example, he said: “The buses were supposed to meet on Monday to deliberate on the gazette and before this meeting; they are still charging the old fares. What happens now when one mode of transport is cheaper, while another is expensive yet they are at the same rank?” Dlamini said the manner in which the prices were implemented was a challenge.

He said under normal circumstances, the public transport operators would agree among themselves on the grace period to be accorded commuters and also the minimum amounts to be charged. He was responding to a question on whether public transport operators had agreed on which date to implement the new fares, given that the new fares were announced mid-month when commuters had already prepared their budgets. “Given the challenges I’ve stated to you, I have no answer,” he said.