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Blessings Chidakwa
THE Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) is adding 30 more buses under its franchise to alleviate transport problems that have seen many people struggling to get to and from work during the lockdown period.

Local Government and Public Works Minister July Moyo said this after meeting transport operators led by Mr Esau Mupfumi. Minister Moyo said he had a fruitful meeting with the operators and promised to take on board, administrative issues that were raised.

“As Government, we are calling on more transporters to come on board especially those with buses. The buses still have to go through vetting at Central Mechanical and Equipment Department (CMED) and Vehicle Inspection Department (VID) as a safety measure.”

Minister Moyo said enforcing social distance was much easier on buses than commuter omnibuses hence the need for more buses.

“The public should remain cognisant of the fact that the lockdown is still applicable and people should travel only when it is essential to do so. We don’t want to clog the transport system as we are still under the national lockdown,” he said.

Mr Mupfumi said they had a fruitful meeting with Minister Moyo.

“It is one of the traditional meetings we hold with Government but it’s just that it has been a while since our last meeting.

“As the private operators, we remain in full support of our Government and we have offered 30 more buses with Trip Trans alone having offered 10 buses,” he said.

Mr Mupfumi said Government had committed to pay their dues in full including an increment backdated to March 1.
They had also been advised that the Ministry of Local Government would engage the Ministry and Finance and Economic Development on reviewing of rates for the operators.

“As operators we want our rates to be reviewed so that we remain viable and operate in a cost effective way,” Mr Mupfumi said.
The transport operators on Monday met Zupco officials to thrash out a number of issues including delays in payments and the need to make a timeous review of rates to ensure viability.
During the meeting, operators expressed concern over dual checks on their vehicles by the CMED and VID, which they felt was cumbersome