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Maputo Municipal Council is looking to introduce in the near future identification cards for drivers of the private minibuses (known colloquially as “chapas”) which provide much of the passenger transport in the greater Maputo area.
The proposal was made public on Wednesday by the Councillor for Transport and Traffic, Joao Matlombe, during a council meeting.
The aim of the ID card is to curtail bad behaviour by the drivers, which includes cutting short routes. Cited in the daily newspaper “O Pais”, Matlombe stressed that “we believe that, with a professional driver’s licence scheme, the drivers will feel increasingly responsible, because at the moment ninety per cent of fines are applied to the vehicle owners rather than the drivers”.
In addition, the fare collectors will be prohibited from shouting out the route as is often practised at present. Matlombe explained that “all the vehicles in the city of Maputo are licenced and possess a strip that indicates the origin and destination which must be followed by the minibus. But when the conductors call out the destination, it provides an opportunity to alter the route”.
The council is also planning to introduce three new routes. Matlombe revealed that “a year ago, we began a pilot project with the company COTRAC N1 and we obtained positive results that encourage us to follow this model which will be expanded to Matola and Boane”.
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