THE much-awaited Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) services officially start today in the country’s commercial city - Dar es Salaam.
Passengers are to pay between 400/- and
800/- while students will have to pay 200/- , the Surface and Marine
Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA) announced on Monday.
The transport regulatory body’s
Director-General, Mr Gilliard Ngewe, told reporters in the city that the
fares will be 400/- for the feeder route, 650/- for trunk route and
800/- for feeder and trunk routes while students will pay 200/- per
trip.
Today and tomorrow BRT services will be free of charge and will operate between 5am and 12pm.
“We are warning motorcyclists and other
motor vehicle drivers to stop using the infrastructures of BRT project,”
he said, adding that they are still discussing with stakeholders to
find a good way of arranging routes between BRT buses and other commuter
buses.
According to him, the system of BRT
infrastructures is not allowing other buses to provide services together
with BRT buses, so passengers along the BRT roads will not be allowed
to use other commuter buses than captive.
Mr Ngewe said UDA- Rapid Transit (UDART)
will provide services along the feeder roads together with commuter
buses “so it is better for the fare to be equal.” On December 29, last
year, UDA-RT Company submitted to SUMATRA a fare proposal for the BRT
buses.
In an application, they analysed their
fare costing, which includes high operational costs, fare collection
system management and cost of the laid-down infrastructure.
Another pricing factor considered the
passenger capacity, which is expected to be low as the buses would
provide services in strict adherence to the timetable, regardless of
whether the bus is full or not. Earlier, the suggested fare was 700/-
for feeder routes, 1,200/- for trunk routes and 1,400/- for feeder and
trunk routes.
The cost for the students was a half of
an adult price. SUMATRA worked on the application in accordance with
applicable laws and regulations in cooperation with various stakeholders
and service users - to get their views and opinion.
DART Deputy Manager, Technical Services,
Mr Ronald Lwakatare, said they will continue to undertake an
information and publicity campaign to create public awareness on the
project to achieve user-satisfaction.
He said the bus tickets will be
available systematically while staff employment will consider personal
hygiene and integrity to check against use of abusive language and
commitment to customer care.
SUMATRA has also handed over to UDA-RT a
licence to provide transportation services for one year, which will end
on May 8, next year. They will need to re-apply for a new licence four
weeks before expiry date
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