ZUPCO Announces Measures To Address Transport Challenges
The Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) has announced a cocktail of measures aimed at addressing transport challenges in the country.
This comes after pictures of long queues at ZUPCO terminuses circulated on social media on Friday last week depicting the shortage of transport.
The Zimbabwe Republic Police had cracked on private-owned vehicles that commuters were turning to as alternative transport since the ZUPCO buses and commuter omnibuses were overwhelmed by the demand.
In a statement, ZUPCO announced that it has engaged with stakeholders to address the issue. Pindula News presents the statement issued by ZUPCO.
APPEAL TO THE TRAVELLING PUBLIC
We have witnessed long queues on social media which occurred mostly on Friday 3 September 2021. The Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) became aware of the increased demand that occurred that evening caused by:
-1. Increase in the hours of ZUPCO travelling public by those who normally would have taken other forms of transport especially Mshikashika and a few who would have taken unlicensed and illegal kombis.
2. Parents and children who had last-minute shopping for their children in readiness for the opening of schools set for Monday 6 September 2021.
3. Increased enforcement by law enforcement agencies led by the Zimbabwe Republic Police (ZRP) in order to eliminate all forms of illegal transport.
ZUPCO deployed all the available fleet and it took us longer than usual to clear the travelling public especially from the CBD area of Harare. This occurrence has led us to plan further on how to deal with the opening of schools tomorrow (Monday) and working with other agencies such as:
-1. ZRP and Municipal Police who will do their normal job of law enforcement and manning of our usual congestion areas such as roundabouts and non-working traffic lights throughout the Metropolitan area of Harare and other cities.
2. With effect from the 7th of September 2021 the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), in conjunction, will introduce rail coaches in order to ease congestion coming into and out of the CBD area of Harare. ZUPCO will be providing shuttling services from the rail station into the residential suburbs tiding on the same ticket. A similar arrangement will be made in Bulawayo. The following are the pickup points and the respective timetables.
Stations And Sidings Stations And Sidings City Dep 05:45 Tynwald Dep 06:45 Lever Brothers Dep – Warren Park Dep – Lochnivar Dep 05:59 Kambuzuma Dep – Kambuzuma Dep – Lochnivar Dep 07:20 Warren Park Dep – Lever Brothers Dep – Tynwald Arr 06:30 City Arr 07:30
Stations And Sidings Stations And Sidings City Dep 17:25 Tynwald Dep 19:10 Lever Brothers Dep – Warren Park Dep- Lochnivar Dep 17:52 Kambuzuma Dep – Kambuzuma Dep – Lochnivar Dep 19:30 Warren Park Dep – Lever Brothers Dep – Tynwald Arr 18:11 City Arr 19:50
City Dep 05:30 Ruwa Dep 06:40 Hillside Dep – Mabvuku Dep – Mabvuku Dep 05:46 Hillside Dep 07:00 Ruwa Arr 06:25 City Dep 07:35
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
3. We are making another concerted effort for those with roadworthy kombis and buses to come forward and register with us so that we can increase the fleet especially in Harare and Bulawayo.
4. Those owners of kombis and buses who would want to have direct contracts with schools so that we can increase kombis and buses dedicated to individual schools in order to make it easy for law enforcement agencies to allow them to ply the routes they would have taken.
5. We also appeal to those using their own vehicles to observe traffic rules so that we don’t create unnecessary congestions and log jams. This will inhibit the faster turnaround time for our buses and kombis.
Finally, we appeal to the travelling public to be patient as we restore normal public transport system in the urban areas and to that end, we will be adding more new buses before the end of this week.
More: Pindula News
