THE Land Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA) and Tanzania Bus Owners Association TABOA have said that they are working together to addressing various challenges facing the transport sector.
They denied claims the two are wrangle following the suitable time in which the buses should start operations.
According to media reports TABOA has recommended to operate 24hours while LATRA has proposed the buses to start their operations at 3am.
Clarifying the matter, Ag Head of Public Relations and Communication Unit for LATRA, Mr Salum Pazzy said that there is no any misunderstanding between LATRA and TABOA.
“LATRA and TABOA are working closely and we have no misunderstandings and to prove that soon after the information comes out we are all here together to clarify over the matter,” he pointed out
Regarding the issue of changing bus schedules, Mr Pazzy said “after receiving government instructions through the Ministry of Home Affairs we have continued to improve the schedule…so we allowed the bus schedules to start travelling at 5am for trial in a mid of December last year, contrary to the previous time where the bus started the journey at 6 am.”
According to him, since LATRA allowed buses to start travelling at 5 am for trial on December 17, 2022 ,So far more than 180 buses have been licensed for travelling at the said time.
He also added that, recently the authority received instructions through the Ministry of Home Affairs to extend the scope of the bus schedules travelling at 3am while insisting that in implementing the matter LATRA involves transport stakeholders including TABOA and the police force.
In particular, he highlighted some of the criteria for the companies that will be interested to provide services during that time to send applications.
He mentioned some of the criteria including the drivers who will provide the service to be registered in the LATRA system and also to have an identification button (EYE BUTTON) to enable the authority to identify who is with the car.
He said that LATRA will continue receiving recommendations and work on it by involving stakeholders, adding that even the issue of operating 24 hours is still being worked on despite the fact that the issue is cross-cutting and involves many sectors, including the health sector, especially how to deal with accidents at night and security matters for the passengers.
For his part TABOA ‘s Secretary General, Mr Priscus Joseph implored the government organs, especially the police force, to strengthen security and road safety in order to speed up the process of transporting passengers 24 hours in the country.
Moreover, he asked the Ministry of State-President’s Office responsible for Regional Administration and Local Governments (TAMISEMI) to manage the construction of the bus stations to facilitate the availability of various the service at all times while stressing that this will boost the individual economy among Tanzanians as businesses will be conducted at all times.
“As it was heard yesterday (Tuesday) there was a misunderstanding between LATRA and TABOA, in fact, we do not have that kind of misunderstanding, but what is there is we were proposing to operate 24 hours, so we are asking the government, especially the police force, to ensure the safety of the passengers to fast track the mission,” he said.
