Short distance transport operators have raised fears that they may soon run out of business and pull out of the road if government fails to be fair in distributing fuel to all public transport operators.
Yesterday government rolled out a public transport scheme, meant to ease transport blues for commuting public who were subjected to exorbitant fares following fuel price hikes.
Transporters said they would soon pull out of the highway if government does not review the inflated fuel prices, which were announced by President Emmerson Mnangagwa before his departure for Eastern Europe.
A dozen of Kombi operators who spoke to 263Chat cited that the Zimbabwe Passengers Association (ZUPCO) and other private operators contracted to provide public transport are getting fuel at almost half the price from the Central Mechanical Equipment Department (CMED) leaving their business in limbo.
“The reason why we had raised the fares is because of the fuel increases. But now the government through its ZUPCO buses, comes to rip us off because they are giving these buses cheaper fuel while we struggles to buy the expensive one.
“As if that is not enough, they are now forcing us to reduce the fares to be at par with the ZUPCO ones and that does not sustain our business.
“We are not there for charity but to make money and now we feel so hard done. Government should meet us halfway so that we sustain our businesses,” echoed Alvin Chinyerere, a commuter omnibus driver.
Zimbabwe’s public system has, over the years and since the collapse of ZUPCO, relied on commuter omnibuses and should they go off the road, it will be catastrophic the millions of commuters.
Another kombi driver, Tafadzwa Nengoni said government should review downward, the price of fuel and allow the commuter omnibuses to make a profit.
“We used to charge 50 cents because diesel was just a little over a dollar and now we cannot do that anymore because it is too expensive.
“We are making at most $250 per day and we need $240 for diesel. That leaves us with just $10 to cash to kombi owners and that means there is no salary for me, there is no money for maintenance of the car which means we cannot continue to be in this business,” he said.
Commuter omnibus operators recently increased their fares by more than 100% with a trip from City centre to close suburbs like Warren Park going for $2 to $2.50 depending on time of the day.
Those who reside in Chitungwiza were paying between $5 and $6 per trip, a move which had become economically not viable, in a country where most workers earn less than $400 per month.
Although the coming in of the government owned ZUPCO was welcome, some questioned whether it would be a long term solution.
“Government might have thrown us under the bus with this move, but we want to see how long it will last. We all know government is broke and the question is which money are they using to buy fuel for these buses? Are they using our taxpayers’ money or this was budgeted for?” Nengoni said.
However, Greater Harare Association of Commuter Operators Secretary General, Ngoni Katsvairo believes competition is healthy for passengers.
“Competition is healthy as commuter emerge the winners,” he said.
He urged government to expedite availability of fuel and the rebate system for passenger vehicles as “this is the only way that will keep fares at affordable prices while keeping business afloat and viable.”
