Mozambique: Transport operators demand higher fares – AIM report

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Mozambique: Transport operators demand higher fares – AIM report

9:29 CAT | 23 Mar 2022

Photo: Miramar

Transport operators in the northern Mozambican city of Nampula went on strike on Monday, demanding the right to increase their fares by 50 per cent, to compensate for last week’s rise in the price of fuel.

Operators of the minibuses that provide much of the passenger transport in Mozambican cities commonly known as “chapas”) told the independent television STV that they want to increase their flat rate fare from 10 to 15 meticais (from 16 to 24 US cents, at current exchange rates).

“We’ve taken our vehicles off the road because of the cost of fuel which as risen from 64 to 72 meticais”, said one of the chapa operators interviewed.

He was talking about the cost of a litre of diesel in Nampula – this is an increase of 12.5 per cent, which the transport operators are using to demand a fare rise of 50 per cent.

With the minibuses off the roads, Nampula residents had to walk from their homes to work, or to school, or catch a motorbike-taxi.

Nampula is the third city to be hit by transport walkouts – on Friday the owners of chapas in Pemba and Nacala pulled their vehicles off the roads. In Pemba, they called for fares to rise from 10 to 15 meticais for short distances and from 15 to 20 meticais for longer journeys. A similar strike occurred in Nacala, according to a report in Tuesday’s issue of the independent newssheet “Carta de Mocambique”.

Chapa fares should be set in negotiations between the transport operators and the municipal authorities. But in this case, it seems that the central government will have to intervene. On Monday a meeting was held between the government and the Mozambican Federation of Road Transport Associations (Fematro).

One of the proposals, says “Carta de Mocambique” is an increase of three meticais on fares in the Greater Maputo Metropolitan Area.

This would be the second fare rise in Maputo within the space of three months. In late December, the Maputo Municipal Assembly authorized an increase from 10 to 12 meticais (20 per cent) for distances of up to ten kilometres, and from 12 to 15 meticais (25 per cent) for longer journeys.

Source: AIM