Zupco to receive more buses this week

THE Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (Zupco) will receive new buses procured from China to add to its fleet this week.

Zupco acting chief executive officer Mr Evaristo Madangwa told The Sunday Mail that delivery is expected on Wednesday and Thursday.

"We are expecting more buses on the 21st and 22nd of July. However, I do not have the exact number of buses that are coming.

"The new batch is coming from China."

Government earlier this year placed an order for 100 new buses for Zupco, as part of efforts to address transport challenges and modernise the country's public transport system.

Cabinet also recently "resolved to support the urgent procurement or hire of an additional 667 buses to enable Zupco to provide a more efficient service to all high-density suburbs".

Mr Madangwa said last week's redeployment of Zupco's inter-city fleet to service urban commuter routes had helped address transport challenges.

"Since inter-city travel was stopped following the introduction of a Level Four lockdown, we decided that buses that usually ply long-distance routes be used to complement our services for urban commuters.

"There has been a huge improvement in transport availability as there are more buses in the urban areas," he said.

He added that slashing of fares was welcomed by commuters.

Zupco requires 2 000 buses to run an efficient mass transport system.

Currently, the transport utility owns 262 buses, while the rest are operated through its franchise system.

The last batch of Zupco buses imported into the country was commissioned by President Mnangagwa on March 12.