PASSENGER RELIEF AS BUS OPERATORS HALT STRIKE

UPCOUNTRY bus passengers breathed a sigh of relief yesterday as bus operators postponed their strike, pending a scheduled meeting between the government and bus owners.

Tanzania Bus Owners Association (TABOA) had over the weekend threatened to down tools, pushing for their demands in what they explained as envisaged unfair traffic regulations for tabling in the national assembly.

The association directed its members’ booking offices to shelve issuance of tickets to passengers to avoid creating inconveniences. But, following a statement in Dar es Salaam yesterday, TABOA said it had a meeting with the government yesterday over the matter.

A physical visit by the ‘Daily News’ to Ubungo Bus Terminal (UBT) yesterday found the booking offices having suspended the ticket sales but only accepting bookings for the next-day travellers.

Some agents who spoke to this paper said they were waiting for the final directive by 2pm yesterday after the bus owners-government meeting. Late yesterday afternoon, TABOA Secretary General Enea Mrutu told the ‘Daily News’ over the phone that they had agreed against the strike after meeting the government.

“The meeting yielded good results…there is no strike as planned, I am going to direct agents at UBT to continue selling tickets to passengers,” he said, noting that the association was satisfied with the resolutions from the meeting.

Among others, the government promised to write the regulations in Swahili and thereafter present them before stakeholders for more views. Mr Mrutu said the government agreed to delete a section in the regulations that stipulated that bus owners be accountable for the traffic offenses committed by their drivers. “We have agreed that there should be separation of offenses by the owners and the drivers,” he said.

Speaking during an interview with the local radio station, Director General of the Surface and Marine Transport Authority (SUMATRA), Mr Gilliard Ngewe, said the authority only proposes the regulations and convene stakeholders’ conferences to collect views on the proposed regulations. “And there is no any area that proposed for seizure of the vehicles after the driver commits the traffic offense as the bus owners claim,” he said.

The strike could affect thousands of passengers using the upcountry buses for social and economic trips.

In the past, the strikes hit the country, causing troubles to passengers who were stranded at the bus stations at Ubungo in Dar es Salaam and other upcountry regions. Those who had no option of postponing their journey had to dig deeper into their pockets to use private cars.

Source: DailyNews