TENSION BREWING BETWEEN BUS, KOMBI OPERATORS

MANZINI - Tension is brewing between bus and kombi owners over the new bus fares and this will benefit commuters.

This is because after the publication of the gazette on the increased bus fares, members of the Swaziland Buses Association (SBA) have resolved to increase the bus fares but not charge the maximum gazetted amounts.  The resolution was taken by the branch leaders of the association during a meeting which was held at Swazi Commercial Amadoda Hall at KaKhoza, Manzini. The meeting was chaired by SBA Chairman Duma Msibi. At the beginning of the meeting, Msibi said since the gazette for the new bus fares had been published, they would either charge the maximum fares as stipulated in the gazette or set a minimum fare. He mentioned that this question arose from the fact that they (bus owners) and kombi owners did not see eye-to-eye. In fact, he said they did not work hand-in-hand, instead they competed.

Meeting

One of the attendees of the meeting said it would be difficult for them to charge commuters according to the gazette because they would lose customers to kombis, which ranked anywhere and lured passengers by charging them lower fares. He said in Nhlangano, for example, kombis loaded passengers at various areas outside the bus rank and charged them discounted fares. He said in the end, most customers did not reach the bus rank where buses parked. Another bus owner said most of the time, since buses operated based on a schedule, they usually went from Manzini to Nhlangano, for example, with the passengers they loaded at the bus rank because at the bus stops, commuters boarded kombis which ranked there and charged them lower fares.

Again, another public transport operator, who concurred with his colleagues, said in order to compete with kombis, they should charge fares which would be below the gazetted ones. He said they should remember that they had an advantage since buses had a bigger carrying capacity than kombis. He emphasised that what they needed to do was to cushion the bus fares and beat their competitors, instead of charging the maximum fare, which were contained in the gazette. Thereafter, they said since it was not in doubt that they needed to adjust the bus fares, operators who serviced the various routes should meet, discuss and agree on how much they would charge, above the old gazette but below the newly-published fares.

For example, they said buses, which operated between Manzini and Mbabane, were charging E20; they might increase it to E25. It is worth noting that according to the old gazette, it was supposed to be E26.50 to travel from Manzini to Mbabane. According to the new gazette, the new fare is E30.50 for this route. In that regard, the bus owners agreed that the bus fares they would charge for the various routes, would be implemented on May 1, 2022 and said they should post the list of routes on their vehicles before May 1, 2022 in order for their customers to see them. Worth noting is that some kombis have already implemented the new gazetted fares and are charging the maximum fares. 

On another note, the operators agreed that they should take a leaf from what was happening in South Africa, in terms of punishing operators who would defy a resolution which was taken in a meeting. They said in South Africa, public transport operators who were found charging bus fares lower than those agreed upon, were suspended  from operating for a certain period of time. The SBA chairperson said a punishment which would come from the members of a certain route for defiant operators, would be supported by the association. In fact, he said such would be contained in their regulations, which they were in the process of drafting.

Agreement

It is worth noting that even though the aforementioned agreement was reached, some of the members of the association raised a point that usually it was bus operators who set the tone in as far as bus fares were concerned. They argued that if they could charge the maximum fares, it was high likely that even kombis would do the same. Their worry was that since they had agreed to charge commuters lower than the gazetted fares, kombis would also do likewise and the fares could continue to be lowered as they would be competing against each other.

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