In a last-minute determination to quell an impending industrial action that’s planned to start later this week, Tanzania’s Land Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA) has started talks with bus owners.
The bus owners announced on Saturday that they would suspend passenger transport services if LATRA’s insistence on the use of Point of Sales (PoS) machines in collection of fares is not sorted out.
Every owner of PoS machines is required to deposit a certain amount of money in a SIM card or financial services agent, depending on the number of passengers commuting. Buses with 50-passenger capacity are required to pay Sh30,000 each, while the owner is required to deposit Sh1.5 million.
Many owners have complained about the system, stating that it is not user-friendly and that it has serious inadequacies for which they incur unnecessary losses.
Owing to these, the Tanzania Bus Owners Association (TABOA) convened an emergency meeting on Saturday, March 6, 2021 to deliberate on the matter. Most of its members decided they would park their buses this week if the issue is not addressed.
Director General of LATRA, Gilliard Ngewe, explained that the e-ticketing system is a new technology that would take some time for adoption by operators, and that there was nothing inappropriate or sinister about its use.
Ngewe further explained that the two parties were already working on some of thorny concerns, and hopeful that the issues would be resolved.
He said the system offered the best option for bus owners for easy tracking of their remittances within their respective companies.
Ngewe added that the system has so far demonstrated a major breakthrough, noting that, as at yesterday, 98.8 percent of all transactions done by operators (floats) were approved.
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No consensus has been reached between the two parties on the matter. An executive member of TABOA, Mr Mustafa Mwalongo, said if the authorities fail to resolve their complaints, they would stick to their resolutions and embark on the strike as planned.