BULAWAYO municipal police are reportedly making a killing from commuter omnibus operators who pick and drop passengers at undesignated points.<\/p>\n
The picking and dropping of passengers at undesignated points is an offence under council\u2019s by-laws.<\/p>\n
In the past, municipal police would clamp and tow away vehicles operating from these areas, with offenders paying fines.<\/p>\n
However, of late, it is now free for all with even unregistered kombis allegedly operating freely after paying $5 to corrupt municipal police.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe municipal police are now like our new rank marshals, where for one to be allowed to load passengers, they must have paid a fee of $5 to them,\u201d Nkosi Ndlovu, a kombi driver, said.<\/p>\n
A number of undesignated pick-up and drop-off points mushroomed in the central business district (CBD) after the closure of the Basch Street terminus, popularly known as Egodini.<\/p>\n
South African civil engineering firm, Terracorta, was awarded a tender to develop Egodini into a state-of-the-art regional transport hub and mall at a cost of $60 million.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to rank at Egodini, but after its closure, I now look for passengers outside Tredgold Building, but after paying the $5 to the municipal police,\u201d one of the kombi drivers, Richard Moyo, said.<\/p>\n
Bulawayo City Council director of security and enforcement, Sikhangele Zhou, recently said council was not aware of the shenanigans by municipal police and urged people to report to council.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf any allegations are brought forward, they will be investigated and anyone found to be taking bribes will be brought to book,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
However, this is all happening despite the council having a public transport policy that regulates the services of commuter transport operators in the city.<\/p>\n
Under the policy, only vehicles registered under a company are allowed to provide public transport in the city to guarantee a controlled and organised transport system that ensures the safety of residents.<\/p>\n
It was unveiled in 2011.<\/p>\n
The public transport policy (PTP) calls for among others, having timetables and properly designated pick up and drop off points to ensure an efficient and reliable public transport system.<\/p>\n
Currently, three commuter omnibus companies Tshova Mubaiwa Cooperative, Bulawayo City Transport Trust and Bulawayo United Pubic Transport Association are registered under BCC\u2019s PTP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
BULAWAYO municipal police are reportedly making a killing from commuter omnibus operators who pick and drop passengers at undesignated points. The picking and dropping of passengers at undesignated points is an offence under council\u2019s by-laws. In the past, municipal police would clamp and tow away vehicles operating from these areas, with offenders paying fines. However, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16436,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,12],"tags":[188,1207],"class_list":["post-17254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-policy","tag-bulawayo","tag-cbd"],"yoast_head":"\n