Story by Peter Chivhima
The commuting public has welcomed the newly introduced radius-based restrictions for commuter omnibuses which has been reduced to 60 km from 120km as government seeks to improve road safety.
The move has been welcomed by the commuting public amid calls for the introduction of more inter-city buses.
“This is good because commuter omnibus drivers don’t even care about road rules, so banning them from travelling long distances will help in reducing accidents,” commuter told the ZBC News.
Another said, “I am in support of the government’s move to ban commuter omnibuses from going beyond 60 and the idea to have all the public service vehicles fixed with speed limits monitoring devices.”
“We are appealing to the government to increase buses because we are relying on commuter omnibuses as our means of transport,” added another.
A representative of bus operators agrees with government’s move and has called for robust law enforcement.
Harare Youth Transport Association chairman, Mr Edmore Gwengwe said, “We want to thank the government for coming up with such measures which are meant to curb road carnage on our roads. However what I think is that the law enforcement agencies must strictly monitor what will be happening on our roads.”
Transport and Infrastructural Development Minister, Honourable Felix Mhona explained the rationale behind the new policy.
“I want to thank His Excellency, President Emmerson Mnangagwa for being concerned with the people’s lives on our roads and I also want to thank the public for wanting to know what is happening. This is going to help in reducing fatalities and bring sanity on our roads. The ban came into effect on the 3rd of this month, but we are not saying commuter omnibuses should not operate,” he said.
The recent restriction come amid a devastating surge in road traffic accidents, with 37 lives having been lost and over 100 others injured during the Heroes and Defence Forces Holidays.
