MUTARE- ZUPCO buses and commuters omnibus which uses the Sakubva bus terminus are costing Mutare City Council potential revenue while adding service delivery burden on the financially hamstrung municipality, Chairman of the Business and Investment Committee councilor Xavier Upare has told 263Chat.
Upare told 263Chat that ranks which were formerly leased out to private operators are now being used by the franchise free of charge.
He further complained that City of Mutare cannot bill ZUPCO as it is already operating under a subsidy model.
“Our efforts to raise revenue are also failing because of the ZUPCO buses which are parking for free in the CBD where we used to bill commuter operators. So we are losing money as council because we are both charging anything in the commuter ranks.
“We have engaged a consultant to assess how we can upgrade and digitize our parking and this exercise will also inform us of the strategic direction to take as well as ascertain the real financial impact on the city coffers,” he said.
The Passenger Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ) has also called for government to end the ZUPCO monopoly saying it was giving the commuting public nightmares.
A social justice activist Richard Mugobo questioned the rationale of allowing substandard buses which are subsidized by the taxpayers, when they are not able to service the routes due to mechanical challenges.
“The ZUPCO model of operation is not sustainable in the long run as most of the buses seconded to the franchise are now old and always face mechanical problems.
“Such down time not only causes artificial congestion during peak hours it is a cost to taxpayer as those buses still get their daily allotment of earnings,” he said.
