COUNCIL CHASES TOUTS FROM FOURTH STREET BUS TERMINUS newsdzeZimbabweNewsdzeZimbabwe

COUNCIL CHASES TOUTS FROM FOURTH STREET BUS TERMINUS newsdzeZimbabweNewsdzeZimbabwe

AFTER years of an illegal takeover by touts and rank
marshals, Harare City Council (HCC) has finally regained control of the Simon
Muzenda Bus Terminus (formerly Fourth Street Bus Terminus).

These rogue groups reportedly collected thousands of
dollars daily in fees from transporters. The city council is now collecting
over US$800 daily from the terminus in rank use fees. It is now considering an
operation to wrest four other bus termini in the city centre — Market Square,
Rezende, Charge Office and Speke Avenue (also known as Copacabana).

All the four places are under the control of touts, who are
extorting money from bus operators.

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, HCC town clerk
Engineer Hosiah Chisango said: “Every bus terminus from now on will be
controlled by the City of Harare. We will be responsible for collecting fees
from all ranks, instead of the touts.

“We are now in charge of the Fourth Street rank and per
day, we are collecting around US$800.”Presently, he said, the council was only
operating the terminus between 8am and 4pm, but plans were underway to extend
the operating hours. We were getting that little revenue because of our
operating times,” said Eng Chisango. “Now, we are looking to extend our working
hours beyond 4pm as we have noted that the rank is busier after that time. We
are targeting to work up to 8pm.

“As we are now in charge of the Fourth Street rank, we are
looking forward to doing the same at Rezende, Copacabana and Charge Office,
then we will finish off at Market Square. This is just us taking control of
everything.

“Basically, we are restoring order. We want to use our
assets to generate revenue so that we can spruce them up.”

The council, Eng Chisango said, planned to refurbish all
bus termini.

Harare has at least five associations representing bus and
commuter omnibus operators, boasting approximately 800 members.

Under the unauthorised taxation, rank marshals are
reportedly collecting up to US$240 000 per month from each association,
bringing the cumulative figure to about US$1 million monthly.

Eng Chisango added: “For the safety of our employees, we
will build guardrooms and will have cash-in-transit vehicles collecting money
from the ranks at regular intervals throughout the day. “Council is accepting
all forms of payment, including point-of-sale electronic transactions. We are
also working on introducing an electronic system that shows the head office all
money that would have been paid by transporters in real-time.”

He encouraged transport operators to make use of the
council’s holding bays. Sunday Mail




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