Sports / Soccer
BCC recognises pirate taxi drivers
24 Aug 2014 at 09:03hrs | Views
THE Bulawayo pirate drivers taxi association, EXPRICOSS, has been awarded three exclusive parking bays out of 300 free council bays as recognition for the services they are offering to ease transport problems in Bulawayo.
Speaking at a meeting held in the city last week, Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo said the biggest problem they had and that was hindering progress was how to classify what a "cab" was in terms of the existing by-laws.
"After discussions with the acting town clerk, we have come to accept that the taxi cab is within the legal framework and hence should be allocated the bays," said the mayor.
The move came after operators of private taxis lobbied to be incorporated into the transport policy and allocated exclusive parking bays for accountability purposes.
The Bulawayo urban transport policy draft was approved in October 2012 with the intention of coming up with an efficient transport system that meets the people's needs.
At the same meeting, it was said that the city would be serviced by Tshova Mubaiwa and Bulawayo United Public Company (BUPTA).
Tshova Mubaiwa will operate between Plumtree and Khami roads while BUPTA operates from Khami to the east of Plumtree road.
An operator who spoke at the meeting said the implementation of the transport policy would benefit residents in the long run.
He also said an accident route fund would be introduced to assist accident victims and two or more vehicles would assist in the event of funerals.
The new system is also expected to make it easy for transport companies to get funding from banks.
Participants also encouraged local operators to get involved in the implementation of the policy and not wait to cry later when outsiders come and hijack it.
Speaking at a meeting held in the city last week, Bulawayo Mayor Councillor Martin Moyo said the biggest problem they had and that was hindering progress was how to classify what a "cab" was in terms of the existing by-laws.
"After discussions with the acting town clerk, we have come to accept that the taxi cab is within the legal framework and hence should be allocated the bays," said the mayor.
The move came after operators of private taxis lobbied to be incorporated into the transport policy and allocated exclusive parking bays for accountability purposes.
The Bulawayo urban transport policy draft was approved in October 2012 with the intention of coming up with an efficient transport system that meets the people's needs.
Tshova Mubaiwa will operate between Plumtree and Khami roads while BUPTA operates from Khami to the east of Plumtree road.
An operator who spoke at the meeting said the implementation of the transport policy would benefit residents in the long run.
He also said an accident route fund would be introduced to assist accident victims and two or more vehicles would assist in the event of funerals.
The new system is also expected to make it easy for transport companies to get funding from banks.
Participants also encouraged local operators to get involved in the implementation of the policy and not wait to cry later when outsiders come and hijack it.
Source - Sunday News
