Commuters Rights Association of Zambia (CRAOZ) says the current new bus fares will stand despite the rejection by transport operators.
CRAOZ President Aaron Kamuti said in an interview with Kalemba that Transport operators have always been so greedy whenever there’s a downard adjustment of pump fuel prices as they always want things to be done in their way.
Kamuti said if the transport operators won’t put up fare charts, CRAOZ will liaise with the Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) to make the fare chats and give them to drivers.
Yesterday, the Bus and Taxi Owners Association of Zambia(BTOAZ) issued out a letter written by its chairperson Sidney Chewe rejecting the new bus fares.
In a letter dated August 6, BTOAZ rejected the newly introduced bus fares stating that they were not discussed in the consultative meeting which The Road Transport and Safety Agency (RTSA) held this week to revise the fares following the reduction in fuel pump prices.
Chewe also noted in the letter that thee new fares introduced by RTSA are excessive and beyond the previous month’s adjustment of 6.8 percent increment.
And that the reduction in fares did not reflect the other cost of operations.
However, Kamuti disclosed that the new transport fares which have come into effect today, reflects costs on the ground other than fuel.
He added that during the transport stakeholders consultative meeting facilitated by RTSA, the Transport operators wanted to use their model to adjust bus fair prices despite having an already established model of adjustment.
Kamuti revealed that after two bus fare proposals were laid at the stakeholders meeting, the operators decided not to participate in the process but they remained till the current fares were concluded.
He said the transport operators wanted to have a five percent transport fare deduction, while for local routes they were proposing a K1.
“And for inter town [routes] they proposed a K2 deduction which we rejected.”
“We expected the amount which was removed from the fuel pump price to trickle down to the passengers,” Kamuti said. This is contained in a report published by Kalemba.