Geita, where bicycle transport saves you fare

TANZANIA: AS human beings, moving from one place to another is inevitable and it is done on daily basis as long as one is of good health to execute socioeconomic activities.

In searching food and other necessities, a person is obliged to move to reach where he/she would get what is needed to satisfy his/her needs in life.

That is why daily, you see people going different directions using numerous means of transportation they think would easily take them to where they want to reach. I

f the distance is walkable, they do not trouble their minds on how to reach there, but simply commute by just making the first step that leads to several until the destination is reached.

But, an alternative way is sought when the place is far and here is when common means of transportation like Daladala, Bajaj, Bodaboda and many others are used.

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One thing for sure is that using these alternative means of transport, one ought to have fare unlike walking where you just have to pick yourself up and begin the journey.

The good thing about walking is that it is among the best physical exercises that are encouraged by health practitioners who insist that it is essential to blend a walking habit daily.

Citing Dar es Salaam being the commercial city of Tanzania, you are likely to see all sorts of means of transport ranging from air to land.

This helps to provide a perfect menu to people as they are able to select the system they want to use depending on the place they would like to go.

Even though, the city is blessed with a series means of transport, there is no where you can see bicycle being hired as taxis like it is in some regions in the upcountry.

Geita Region, for instance has bicycles to be hired for transport and in quick analysis, they are cheap in comparison to other means.

This provides diversification in the transportation sector and the admirable thing about these cicycles is that they operate at a cheap cost.

Imagine a distance that you pay 1000/- to a bodaboda rider, you are charged 500/- by a bicycle rider? For the same distance, though you spend extra time being ridden on a bicycle, you will automatically go for the bike.

Riding people as passengers in his bicycle, Suleiman Jabir in Geita Region said: “This is where my entire life depends…I have built a house, I feed my family and I do everything you would think of through this business.”

Aged 37, Jabir noted that he is nearing to retire from it and would afterwards engage in farming activities citing age as the main obstacle for him to ditch the business.

“I began this job long time ago and by that time, it was profitable because there were no bodabodas and Bajajis which made us to operate freely without facing stiff competitions.

“Now, things are hard and different because of the mushrooming of bodabodas and Bajajis…we are no longer making enough money as we used to do before.

“The competition is tough and on a good day, I go back home with 5000/- which is little in comparison to those years… but I do not complain as long as it comes from my own sweat.”

He added: “If I were making enough profit, I could have bought a bodaboda because my age is no longer supporting me to withstand the prevailing competition using bicycles. “I therefore request Good Samaritans to help me secure a bodaboda so that I can be able to engage in this business with ease.

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I strongly believe that I have the potentials to excel and reach another level than this.” For Lameck Richard, who is also another bicycle taxi operator in Geita disclosed that he is new in the field, but determined to soldier on.

“I used to herd someone’s cattle before coming here and after leaving that place, I used the little savings I had to buy a bicycle which I am using now to transport people and goods.

“I like this business, because whatever I make from this work is mine, so I always work hard to realize my dreams, though things are hard these days,” he pointed out.

Richard (22) says his ambition is to open a big grocery where he can sell assorted items to the public, adding that he likes to serve people a lot.

For him, the first days of operating a bicycle as a taxi were very difficult as he used to experience persistent body pains such that he found it hard to sleep well at night.

“I remember the entire body was in pain after the first two to three days but thereafter, I got used to the situation and now feel ok. I can cycle at any moment transporting people to where they want to go,” he remarked.