Mozambique: Filipo affected more than 28,000 in capital city
Photo: DW
The price increase of urban and intercity train tickets in the Mozambican capital vary between 14% and 40%. Mozambican Ports and Railways says the rise is necessary to improve the quality of service.
Travelling by train became more expensive in southern Mozambique on December 1st. Users of these services say that the increase in tariffs has made their lives even more difficult.
The Mozambican Ports and Railways Company (CFM) increased urban and interurban train fares in the city of Maputo between 14% and 40%. The new tariffs cover all six passenger transport routes in the capital.
The biggest increase affected trips between Maputo and Matola Gare, located in the most populous municipality of the country. Fares rose from five to seven meticais, corresponding to an increase of 0.07 to 0.10 Euros.
The smallest increase was for the journey between Maputo to Chicualacuala, a distance of about 500 kilometres, which now costs 208 meticais, the equivalent to about three Euros.
CFM justified the introduction of the new tariff rates with the need to continuously improve its passenger transport services, noting that the tariff had not been adjusted for 13 years.
Tariffs for Metrobus, the integrated bus and train transport system in the metropolitan region of Maputo, rose on the same day, with increases ranging from 28% to 31%. Train tickets rose from 29 to 38 meticais, corresponding to an increase of 0.41 to 0.54 Euros.
Justifying the hike, Fleetrail, the private company that manages this system, said it was subsidising the cost of the ticket by 80%.
Impact of new prices
Trains in Mozambique have a strong impact on people’s lives, serving not only for the transport of people and goods, but also as a guarantor of the flow of agricultural produce from the countryside to the capital.
Thousands of workers depend daily on the train to go to work in the capital.
Manuela Manuel lives in Kobwe, Matola, and works in Maputo in the Museu area. She takes the Metrobus to work and rues the new increases occurring in December, at a time when all prices have a tendency to rise. “The previous price was already a bit difficult” she says.
Salvador Xavier lives in Matola Gare and has to travel to work in downtown Maputo every day by train. “We did not just depend on the train. We take the train, get off at a certain point, and then take a minibus the rest of the way home,” he says.
Monteiro Sitoi however believes that the fare rise is justified, since CFM trains connecting to Maputo continue to be among the cheapest in the country. “I believe that it adjusts for what the expenses are. The services provided by the operator make things very easy for us,” he says.
Julião de Mateus works in a cleaning company in Museu neighbourhood in Maputo, and travels to work from the Liberdade neighbourhood in Matola. He says that the train continues to be the safest and most economical means of transportation to get to work on a daily basis.
“Travelling by train takes 30 to 40 minutes to get home, but in a Chapa it takes up to two hours because of traffic,” he says.
Sidonio Langa, who works also in downtown Maputo and travels to work by Metrobus, says the hike in tariffs is not beneficial. “Anything that messes with the customer’s pocket is not healthy,” he says.
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