Local News

Sumatra checks ground 126 buses

THE Sumatra Communications Manager, Mr David Mziray.

THE Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) has seized 126 buses over alleged traffic offences in a special operations conducted early this month.

According a statement issued by the Sumatra Communications Manager, Mr David Mziray, on Sunday the defaulting owners of the commuter buses had been charged between 100,000/- and 250,000/- for their offences.

"This demonstrates that the Authority has been conducting inspections and  monitoring the operations of the buses unlike the belief that we are holed up in our offices and are unaware of the offences that are being committed," he said in the statement.

Of the 126 buses that were seized, over half of them had their staff not wearing uniforms. Other offences involved travelling on wrong routes. The rest of the offences involved forgery of Sumatra documents and use of abusive language. Mr Mziray admitted that commuter transport in Dar es Salaam was being faced by a number of challenges caused largely by drivers and conductors who do not respect traffic rules and regulations.

He explained that evidence showed that many commuter buses were violating a number of rules and regulations including not using the right routes, harassment of students, not wearing uniforms and inflating fares. In a bid to strengthen control, Sumatra has taken a number of measures in a quest to discipline bus owners who fail to get their employees to respect traffic rules and regulations.