PoS machines require the owner to deposit a certain amount of money in a SIM card or financial services agent depending on the bus’ passenger estimates. For example, if a bus carries 50 passengers at a fare of Sh30,000 each, then the owner is required to deposit Sh1.5 million.
Dar es Salaam. The Land Transport Regulatory Authority (Latra) is in talks with bus owners in an effort to quell an industrial action that’s planned to start later this week.
Bus owners said on Saturday that they would suspend passenger transport services if the issue of using Point of Sales (PoS) machines in collection of fares as advanced by Latra is not addressed.
PoS machines require the owner to deposit a certain amount of money in a SIM card or financial services agent depending on the bus’ passenger estimates. For example, if a bus carries 50 passengers at a fare of Sh30,000 each, then the owner is required to deposit Sh1.5 million.
However, at different times, some owners have complained about the system, saying it is not friendly to the use of these buses - and that it has serious shortcomings which cause them to incur losses.
As a result, on Saturday (March 6, 2021), the Tanzania Bus Owners Association (Taboa) convened an emergency meeting to discuss the system - and a large percentage of the members decided that they will park their buses this week if the issue is not addressed.
But Latra director general Gilliard Ngewe told The Citizen yesterday that the two parties were already working on some of raised issues, exuding confidence that the issues would be resolved.
“Latra, TRA and the National Internet Data Centre (NIDC) held a meeting with bus operators yesterday (Sunday) where we heard all their complaints - and we are working on them. We expect to issue an official statement on the matter within three days,” he said.
He was confident that after discussions, the strike would be called off.
He said the e-ticketing system was a new technology that would take a bit of time to be adopted by operators - insisting, however, that there was nothing wrong or sinister about the matter.
He said the system offered the best option for bus owners because through it (the system), they can easily monitor the flow of money in their companies.
He said the system has so far demonstrated a big achievement, noting that, as of yesterday, out of all transactions that were done by operators (floats) 98.8 percent were approved.
“This shows that the system was operating well,” he insisted, noting that the only challenge was that some bus operators were not yet familiar with how the system works while other operators were simply reluctant to embrace it for reasons best known to themselves.
But bus owners say so far, no consensus had been reached between the two parties on the matter.
Taboa member of the executive committee, Mr Mustafa Mwalongo, said if the authorities fail to resolve their complaints, they would stick to their resolutions - and go on strike as planned.
“On every Sh30,000 ticket sold, there is a deduction of two percent, which is equivalent to Sh600. This means that you are left with Sh29,400 that goes into the account. What happens when you go to the bank you do not see the money on time - and, yet, the tickets are all sold,” he said.
Latra’s Mr Ngewe explained that most bus operators were complaining about the issue because it delays their operations - and that they usually spend a lot of time tracking the money.
“We don’t have any problem with e-ticketing; but the floats must be removed. If need be, let’s operate the way the Dart [the Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid Transit] projects operates,” he said.
