Bulawayo to legalise pirate taxis

CITY fathers have all but given in to pressure from residents as they are now reviewing the public transport policy with a view to legalising the activities of pirate taxis, popularly known as mushika-shika.

A resolution to that effect was made last week in council chambers pursuant to a motion moved by Ward Four councillor, Silas Chigora, who is the caucus chair for councillors.

The local authority has been facing serious challenges in trying to control pirate taxis that are operating illegally across the city.

The taxis have become a menace in the central business district, where they pick and drop passengers at undesignated areas.

To bring order in Zimbabwe's second largest city, council has now resolved to review the yet to be adopted public transport policy, to incorporate pirate taxis.

"The eastern areas have refused the kombi mode of transport and prefer small vehicles (Honda Fits), which are faster and are quick to fill.

"The policy therefore needs an overhaul to include all players and residents must be allowed to choose the service provider they want," reads part of the resolution passed by the city fathers.

"Small vehicles must be allowed to operate within the confines of the law.

"All must change to red plates, employ qualified and certified drivers and be insured and must be allocated bays to pick from not this chaotic cat and mouse game prevalent in the city."

Council is of the view that the public transport policy, which seeks to ban operators that function outside the city's three associations - Bulawayo Public Transporters Association (Bupta), Tshova Mubaiwa Co-operative and Bulawayo City Transit - would improve the public transport situation in the City of Kings.

Each of these associations will be allocated specific routes to operate.

Contacted for comment, Chigora said there was need to strike a balance between the economic forces driving people into operating pirate taxis while at the same time maintaining order in the city.

"We find ourselves in a dilemma trying to enforce order. That is taking away their means of survival," he told the Daily News.

"Not so long ago, the Honda Fits were not pirating everywhere like this. What has caused this? These small cars are operating like vendors.

"They must not be condemned but managed and one way of managing them is to allocate them designated parking bays to operate from.

"We can't bury our heads in the sand and pretend all is well out there. It is better to manage them through a temporary arrangement than allow this chaos to continue unabated," Chigora said, adding that the public transport policy vision must fully embrace the current economic realities.

While council is still in consultation with the stakeholders concerned, and having already conducted a pre-launch session of the transport policy, some councillors believe that associations must not be forced out of their routes and be made to operate routes they are not comfortable with.

"The issue of three companies being allocated routes and commuters being forced to service them must be investigated.

"Bupta cannot be forced onto routes that were previously operated by Tshova Mubaiwa against commuters' will," the resolution said.