Staff reporter

Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) will from 1 July this year marginally increase fares for urban routes, in a development that would see commuters living in areas like Chitungwiza and Norton paying ZWL$90 and ZWL$120 per trip for buses and kombis respectively.

An official from ZUPCO revealed to this publication that with effect from 1 July, ZUPCO would increase its fares by 33.3 and 100 percent for kombis and buses respectively. The development would see people living within a radius of zero to 20 kilometers from the Central Business District (CBD) paying ZWL$60.00 for buses and ZWL$80.00 for kombis. Previously commuters were charged ZWL$30.00 and ZWL$60.00 for buses and kombis respectively on the same distance.

According to the ZUPCO official, commuters living in areas such as Norton, Ruwa and Chitungwiza who uses ZUPCO buses would pay ZWL$90 from the current ZWL$45.00 and those travelling using ZUPCO kombis would be charged ZWL$120.00 from the current ZWL$90.00.

The fare increases had been necessitated by an increase in ZUPCO’s operational costs. The operational costs include fuel, the franchise fees that rose by 65 percent and workers’ wages that went up by 40 percent.

According to the same official, the franchise fees, which is money paid to those who lease their buses or kombis to ZUPCO, had gone up from ZWL$4000.00 to ZWL$6 700.00 for kombis per day and buses would continue to be paid the current ZWL$15 650 per day. The upward review of the franchise fees is meant to attract other transport operators to join the ZUPCO programme in a bid to ease transport challenges currently being faced by commuters.

In a bid to assist travellers, ZUPCO this year introduced inter-city ZUPCO buses to ease the high transport costs confronting long distance travellers. The company has a vision of developing an integrated and multi-model urban transport system, which shall be plying rural, inter-city, cross-border and intra city journeys.

Despite the fare increase, ZUPCO buses remain the most affordable means of transport considering that private transport operators are charging up to US$2 on the Chitungwiza, Ruwa and Norton routes.