On your bike, we go! file picture

bicyclesTafara Shumba
Only those who have never been affected by the consequences of the chaotic operations of commuter omnibuses can fight in their corner. My horrific experience with a commuter omnibus recently gives me the conviction that the proposed phasing out is spot on.
Upon receiving the sad news that two of my close relatives were part of the 10 casualties of the Chitungwiza kombi crash, I quickly rode my motorbike to the scene.

Along the way, the kombi drivers who seemed unmindful of the blood that one of them had just shed, yelled at me, telling me to get off the road. Others irritatingly honked their horns at me while others passed me too closely. It was near miss after near miss. The next thing I remembered was waking up in hospital.

On my discharge last week, it came as a great relief to learn that Government was planning to phase out the urban commuter omnibuses. As a double victim of the kombi menace, the policy could not have come at a better time. Understandably, the proposal ignited a fiery debate over the past week.

It’s true that some jobs will be lost in the process of changing the urban transport system. However, it is inhuman to preserve jobs at the expense of human life. The omnibus operators still have a business opportunity through migrating to the new system. They can merge and buy the required high volume buses. I am sure the Government will give them first preference.

At least the bus system will ensure that revenue will be collected and it’s going to be easy for the authorities to regulate a sector with a few organised players.

The omnibus operators must be thankful that Government has given them ample time to warm up to this new dispensation. Instead of crying, they must start making plans to adjust to the new requirements.

Nobody needs a lesson on how Harare has been turned into a jungle, with the kombi crews being a law unto themselves. However, with the anarchy prevailing in our large cities, I doubt if the authorities will be able to completely flush the kombis out of the Central Business District.

The CBD is littered with pirate taxis which operate anyhow, sometimes in the face of the police. According to the National Transport Policy, the phasing out of the omnibuses is meant to decongest major cities as well as create a modern and affordable transport system. Among a plethora of solutions proposed to achieve these objectives, the use of two wheelers should be given serious consideration.

I am happy that Government is planning to reduce import duty on bicycles.

That incentive must be extended to the importation of motorbikes. In fact, a more appealing incentive would be a total exemption from import duty. Government and other employers should actually give their workers some interest free loans to purchase this sustainable transport alternative. They can alternatively provide a bike pool or a bank of bikes to be used by workers. Some people may be ambivalent about this option and regard it with disdain, but bikes in the car-centric cultures in Europe and Asia are increasingly used to fight congestion in urban centres. In Netherlands, for instance, biking accounts for 27 percent of all trips made and 99.1 percent of the population are cyclists.

In the countries where bikes are used to fight traffic congestion, a myriad incentives are offered to promote their use. For instance, in the UK, motorcycles are exempt from the 10 per day congestion charge that other vehicles pay to enter the city during the day. They are also exempt from paying toll charges and there are free parking bays.

Such incentives can also promote the use of bikes in this country.

Government must put in place supportive measures that favour bikers to reduce their casualties. The countries where biking is an integral part of life, such as Holland and Denmark, as well as much of the rest of continental Europe, have something in effect called “strict liability.”

It means that if a driver strikes a biker, he is automatically at fault, even if the biker literally jumps out in front of the driver. This may not seem fair, but a system where a biker and a driver are on equal footing is not a fair one either, because the results of any collision are so unequal.

Riding a bike where such a system is in place is an amazing experience and the option of using two wheelers should be given serious consideration.

 

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