AfricaPress-Nigeria:<\/p>\n
PUBLIC transporter, Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO)\u2019s buses will continue operating despite a government ban on any form of gatherings of more than 100 people.<\/p>\n
President Mnangagwa introduced the measure in attempts to minimise the likely outbreak and spread of the coronavirus in a country.<\/p>\n
In an interview with NewZimbabwe.com, ZUPCO chief executive officer Everisto Madangwa said the government owned transporter will not suspend operations but will take measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue with our services of bringing transport to the people because people really need transport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, we will take some measures and work hand in hand with the government in tackling the spread of Coronavirus.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be educating our passengers on the dos and don\u2019ts in order to prevent ourselves from being affected by the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n
Madangwa however could not confirm if ZUPCO was going to perform any sanitisation measures on passengers.<\/p>\n
ZUPCO buses and commuter omnibuses were introduced early last year in order to ease transport problems faced by poor locals.<\/p>\n
The shortage of fuel and rising prices of the precious liquid have led to continued increases in fares by private transporters.<\/p>\n
In Bulawayo, a single trip into the city centre from the residential areas on a commuter omnibus costs ZWL$20 while ZUPCO charges just ZWL$2 for the same services.<\/p>\n
This has seen a majority flock to buses which are often packed with over 100 passengers.<\/p>\n
In the wake of the coronavirus scare, Madangwa said the public transporter will now be stricter in ensuring its buses carried recommended numbers of passengers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will also limit the number of people in a bus; 75 people will be allowed to sit, and a bus will now only be allowed to carry not more than 21 passengers standing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is also another way of preventing the spread of Coronavirus,\u201d Madangwa said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
AfricaPress-Nigeria: PUBLIC transporter, Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO)\u2019s buses will continue operating despite a government ban on any form of gatherings of more than 100 people. President Mnangagwa introduced the measure in attempts to minimise the likely outbreak and spread of the coronavirus in a country. In an interview with NewZimbabwe.com, ZUPCO chief executive officer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":16076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1381,385],"class_list":["post-20864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","tag-madangwa","tag-zupco"],"yoast_head":"\n