BUS FARE HIKE LIKELY NEXT WEEK THURSDAY

MBABANE – The proposed bus fare hike is likely to be implemented from next week Thursday.

Yesterday, the Hhohho Regional Transport Association met with the Ministry of Public Works and Transport to deliberate on the matter. According to the association’s chairman Richard Simelane, during the meeting, they agreed on the E10 for short distances and the rest of the distances relevant percentage would be added. The public transport operators want the proposed bus fare hike to be implemented immediately, such that Simelane said as of Thursday, the ministry would be issuing public notices on the proposed hike and the following Thursday, a gazette would then be issued as well.

He said the seven-day notice would allow consumers to prepare themselves for the hike. He said once the gazette was issued, it would mean the commencement of the hike. Simelane revealed this during a meeting with the public transport workers and owners yesterday at the Mbabane Bus Rank in the afternoon. He urged the operators and workers to bear with the association during the process as they could not do things on their own. According to the public transport workers who were engaged in a protest yesterday in Mbabane, the hike was long overdue as the price of fuel had increased four times since they had proposed the hike last year October.

Ministry

It is worth noting that before meeting with the ministry, some of the public transport owners had already started making their announcements on the hike, which would have seen short distances increasing to E13. The owners had even announced the new prices for other routes starting from Mbabane, such that if their proposal had passed, travelling from Mbabane to Nhlangano would cost E110. The owners had even printed out the new price list and were about to distribute it to the drivers and conductors, but were stopped.

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