Harare should learn a thing or two from Bulawayo

Bulawayo City Council has one of the most effective public transport policies in the country, and town planning experts say Harare should follow suit if it wants to restore order in the capital.

Through conglomerating all the commuter omnibuses in the city into three co-operatives, experts say Bulawayo has developed a public transport model that is efficient, safe and professional.

Bulawayo introduced the policy a couple of years ago. Because of this, adversities such as mushikashika and traffic congestion which confront Harare on a daily basis have virtually been put to rest in the City of Kings.

And just like Harare, Bulawayo depends on commuter omnibuses and taxis for much of its public transport but the latter seems to be comparatively doing a better job in managing public transport.

"The system in Bulawayo is neat and impressive," said Zimbabwe Institute of Regional and Urban Planners president, Mr Percy Toriro.

"For Harare we have to say there has not been much effort invested in trying to get a multi-stakeholders engagement to create harmony in the way in which public transport system is run."

Under the new policy all commuter omnibus in Bulawayo have to register with one of the three transport associations.

The three associations are Bulawayo United Public Transport Association (Bupta), Tshova Mubaiwa and Bulawayo City Transit Association.

Upon registering with either of these three, the commuter omnibuses are then branded with a common label so that they can easily be recognisable as to which association and which route they belong to.

Ranking at two main ranks which are Egodini and Hyper, commuter omnibuses queue neatly to await their turn without creating chaos by loading at undesignated sites.

Others load at minor ranks which are properly manned by the associations themselves.

And should a kombi crew load at a rank or service a route which they are not authorised, both the crew and the association will be heavily penalised.

This has created an envious order leaving residents, commuter omnibus operators and the city fathers themselves impressed.

But just how has Bulawayo managed to achieve this?

Nesisa Mpofu, BCC's senior public relations officer, says the city's new transport policy has been their success point.

"Two companies have been formed and these have moved to their chosen areas of operation. A third company is in the process of being finalised," she said.

"Each company has a common identifying mark and operate within the given guidelines that are written down. The council has stated that all company shareholders should understand, embrace as well as own these guidelines. This must be evident in the way the public transport business is operated," she explained.

It is the level of formality in the way in which kombi business is run in Bulawayo which is particularly impressive.

"Council has directed that there should be visible management structures of the companies where this visibility can be strengthened by introduction of uniforms, establishment of offices that are appropriately branded," said Mrs Mpofu.

To keep the system working she added, "The stakeholders share correspondence about meetings, minutes and written strategies to show management of key strategies and other activities of a public relations nature with other players especially residents' associations."

According to the policy, if a company is found using an undesignated ranking zone, pick-up and drop-off point, shall in the first instance be warned and on the second instance be fined and on the third instance be de-registered and have its contract cancelled.

While there are three associations, BCC envisages that in future the running of the public transport will be done under one association.

"The major aspect of the new policy is to have a single properly registered and constituted company running the public transport system in Bulawayo," reads the policy.

"Alternatively there can be two or three companies servicing a specific portion of the city. For instance, if there are three companies this means that the city will be divided into three portions.

"The enforcement is properly done by the Enforcement Committee to incorporate Zimbabwe Republic Police, BCC, Vehicle Inspection Department and representatives of the company and residents."

Even the kombi crews themselves are in agreement that the system is bearing fruits.

"I have worked in Harare before and it's true that Bulawayo is better organised," said a kombi operator, Mtokhozisi Mangena, who is registered with the city's oldest association, Tshova Mubaiwa.

"The set-up does not allow you to behave disorderly it encourages you to do the right thing."

There are areas which can be improved by BCC but a survey carried out in the city by The Sunday Mail Extra showed that the public transport system in Bulawayo is properly run.

However, unlike Bulawayo, Harare is characterised with chaos caused by kombi crews.

Lives have been lost while authorities have been chasing after errant commuter omnibus operators and pirate taxis.

Only last week, a Girls High student was knocked to death by an inexperienced kombi driver.

It is in the backdrop of these developments that the city council has been urged to take a few notes from Bulawayo.

Harare City Council spokesperson Mr Michael Chideme said the capital has always had associations but admitted they were not working.

"We have a number of kombi or public transporter associations in Harare. We work well with them. We have areas of contest which we need to iron out such as sticking to designated pick-up and drop-off points," he said.

Mr Toriro said council should just admit that Harare's associations have not worked and find ways to resolve its differences with transport operators.

"It's one thing to say the association is there and the other to have it working. And there hasn't been trust between City Council and its operators. So we can say these two have not found each other," he said.

While factors which affect planning such as population, resource allocation and rural to urban migration are different for Harare and Bulawayo, the general consensus is that the former has neglected certain issues which the latter has taken care of.