Nampula bus fares double – AIM report

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Nampula bus fares double – AIM report

12:02 CAT | 13 Jan 2017

A life of leaving home

The minimum fare charged by the minibuses that guarantee much of the passenger transport in the northern city of Nampula will double next Monday, rising from five meticais (about seven US cents) to ten meticais.

According to a report on the independent television station STV, the rise was approved by the elected Municipal Assembly in December.

Faizal Ibramurgy, the director of the office of Nampula mayor Mahamudo Amurrane, declared that the measure was “irreversible”, and claimed it was “not a fare increase, but a readjustment”.

He said that currently there are “intermediate stops” on the minibus routes, and that at each of these stops passengers are charged five meticais. A route taking a passenger right across the city could end up costing 15 or 20 meticais.

The intermediate stops have been abolished, and so there will now be a flat fare of ten meticais. Bu, despite Ibramurgy’s preferred terminology, the fare for a short minibus ride within the city will still double.

The Nampula Association of Road Transporters (ASTRA) said the new fare will minimize the costs of its members’ operations within the city. “This was a proposal that our Association submitted to the Municipal Council”, said ASTRA chairperson, Luis Vasconcelos. “The Council analysed it and remitted it to the Municipal Assembly. We saw that the intermediate stops were prejudicing both the users and the transporters”.

The proposal met resistance in the Assembly. Although supported by Amurrane, many members of his own party, the opposition Mozambique Democratic Movement (MDM) were reluctant to pass a fare rise, and the first time the proposal came before the Assembly it was rejected.

The debate over fares has not reached the Nampula public. When STV surveyed several passengers, it found that many of them were unaware that fares are about to increase.

Source: AIM