Govt puts brakes on Christmas travel fare

 Proprietors of buses transporting passengers over longer distances can raise fares by no more than Shs10,000.

Announcement

The minister announced the rules, alongside a revival of breathalyser tests and prosecution of errant drivers, at a meeting yesterday with leaders of Uganda Bus Owners Association (UBOA) and Federation of Uganda Taxi Operators Association (UTOF).

 Others in attendance included the United Medium Omnibuses Drivers and Operators (UMODO) Ltd, Uganda Bus Drivers Association (UBDA) and all bus terminal and taxi park managers.

 “We have agreed on the mileage to determine the maximum increment of fares on each route in public transport during the festive season. For taxis, the increment shall be between Shs1000 to Shs10,000, depending on the mileage, and for buses it will not exceed Shs10,000 across board,” Gen Katumba noted.

 The guidelines take immediate effect, the minister announced, after rejecting a push by UTOF officials to charge higher fares.

 Some bus owners over the past weeks raised transport fares from Kampala to upcountry destination, where thousands more passengers are filing to travel to celebrate Christmas and New Year with kins in villages, citing diminished client numbers on return trips. 

 Minister Katumba said Uganda registers the highest number of road crashes, and consequently deaths and injuries, during the Christmas and New Year period of high excitement, speeding and reckless driving.

On the ground

SCP Lawrence Nuwabiine, the police’s acting Director for Traffic and Road Safety, announced at yesterday’s meeting that their officers on the ground will police motorists for compliance with the new guidelines to reduce accidents.

 “Learning from the past experiences, we discovered that we must test drivers for alcohol … Last year … we never tested drivers, but we have now started testing all drivers of buses, taxis, trailers and trucks along highways,” he said.

 Police first launched campaign of Fika Salaama campaign, a Kiswahili word for Reach/Arrive Safely, in 2016 following a spate of fatal motor crashes on mainly Masaka highway.

 It slashed down accident rates, police later announced, after reinforcing actions of on-the-site arrests and prosecutions of offenders at mobile courts put errant drivers in check and on the tenterhooks.

 The enforcement of the crackdown was later relaxed and the effectiveness of its revival has flailed over the years until Covid-19 and its disruptions, among others, to transportation dipped law enforcement interest in the measures.

Warning

Health ministry at the time warned that the use of the same breathalyser to test different motorists was a hotbed for Covid transmission, prompting police to abandoned related operations.

 Police, acting on advice of health experts and working with Uganda National Roads Authority (Unra), reactivated breathalyser testing to catch drunken drivers in August, this year.

 The reloaded Fika Salaama campaign included snap checks on thoroughfares, catching traffic rule breakers using Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras, prosecution of habitual offenders and blacklisting run-away errant motorists, according to information of Uganda Police Force website.

 Officers were able in one operation lasting only 13 hours to catch as many as 281 motorists for breaching traffic rules on Kampala-Entebbe expressway.

 Report card

Giving a report card on the renewed road safety campign at yesterday’s meeting in Kampala, Acting Police Traffic Director Nuwabiine said that they had intercepted dozens of drunk taxi and bus drivers, particularly on Mityana Road.

 “Some [of the drunk drivers] would abandon their passengers and run through the swamps and disappear [from law enforcement],” he said.

 Minister Katumba yesterday tasked the State for Kampala, Mr Kabuye Kyofatogabye, to direct City Hall enforcement teams to ensure that all bars within taxi parks and bus terminals are immediately closed.

 Officials claimed that drivers of public service vehicles take alcohol at bars in terminals before setting off on trip, thereby risking the lives of travelers.

Accidents

Accidents resulting from drink-driving were far fewer, according to police findings in its latest annual traffic and road safety report, coming distant from driver errors/distraction, speeding, road unworthy vehicles and environmental hazards including impaired visibility.

 The global road safety report shows that 1.4 million people died and another 50 million were injured in accidents in 2018, with 12 people dying in Uganda daily in road crashes.

 Police said their revived campaign, dubbed Fika Salama Extra, aimed to “enforcement, road safety education and engagement with other stake holders”.

It’s unsurprising that Police’s Operations Commander for Kampala Metropolitan, Mr Julius Gobolo, yesterday said they will tomorrow hold a community policing march throughout the city to remind the public on how to be vigilant and conscious of accidents and robberies during this festive season.

Focus

Minister Katumba also said their focus this festive season is to raise awareness on the key behavioural risk factors for road safety such as speed, drink-driving, failure to use crash helmets, seat belts and child restraints.

 “I, therefore, implore you to ensure that your drivers and the people you lead take extra caution on the road. Ensure that they drive responsibly and that your vehicles are in a road worthy condition,” he said.

Minister Katumba added:  “At the same time, increased activity in the bus terminal, taxi parks and on the roads, provide an avenue for wrong elements who try to do harm to our people.”

 He said highway patrols and multiple roadblocks/checkpoints will be mounted along all roads to enforce and implement the new measures in place.