Passengers are transferred to another bus after the vehicle they were travelling in was clamped by Tanga City Council officers for picking up passengers at a stop in the city centre. PHOTO|MBONEA HERMAN
Tanga. A dispute has emerged in Tanga after the City Council began enforcing a plan to relocate all regional bus services from the city centre to the Kange Regional Bus Terminal.
The move has triggered disagreements between city authorities, bus operators and some passengers, with operators arguing that the relocation was implemented before key services agreed upon between them and the council were completed.
The transporters and passengers said the decision had been rushed, citing the absence of essential facilities at the new terminal, including passenger seating, a police post, a health facility, food areas and daladala parking spaces.
The vice chairperson Tanzania Bus Owners Association (TABOA) for Tanga Region, Mr Albert Peter said operators had met city leaders in June, where they agreed that the transfer would take place after improving services at Kange.
“Today we have been forced to move to Kange when all the agreements have not been implemented. There are no passenger seats, no police post and other important services we agreed on are not available,” he said.
Mr Peter said TABOA was not opposed to using Kange terminal but proposed that buses meeting required standards should continue picking up passengers from their town offices while passing through Kange to pay the daily Sh5,000 levy until the terminal was fully completed.
Passengers also criticised the implementation process, saying they were moved to Kange without adequate information, causing delays and inconvenience.
Rashid Hassan, a passenger, said travellers were left stranded for hours without clear information about departure schedules.
“If there was a disagreement between the council and bus operators, passengers should not have suffered the consequences,” he said.
During the enforcement exercise, this newspaper witnessed buses belonging to Tashrif, RATCO, Abood and Royal Line being stopped after being found picking up passengers in town. Each bus was fined Sh250,000.
Tanga City Council lawyer Sebastian Banda said the buses were penalised for violating the council’s directive requiring all regional buses to pick up and drop off passengers at Kange terminal.
Tanga Mayor Mustapha Muhina, popularly known as Seleboss, said the council had not acted hastily, adding that the decision followed a directive from the Prime Minister’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Governments) requiring authorities to enforce the use of designated main bus terminals.
He said urban planning regulations required regional bus services to operate from designated terminals rather than the city centre.
Mr Muhina announced transitional arrangements under which early morning buses would continue picking up passengers from their town offices, while buses departing between 7am and 6pm would be required to start their journeys from Kange terminal.
He said the arrangement would allow daladala services to adjust and improve connections to the new terminal while the council continued improving facilities at Kange.
