Commuters have of late been forced to fork more out their pockets as public transporters have hiked fares to unprecedented levels. Transport fees are increasingly becoming too high for people who commute to work daily.
Ordinarily, a civil service employee earns a net salary of $400 or less after deductions have been made which can be sucked up by just the bus fare and the lunch expenses that one incurs on a daily basis.
Commuter omnibuses that ply the City- Chitungiza route at times charge $4 for a single journey while Greenncroft kombis charge $1.50.
On Monday night, commuter omnibuses that go to Mabvuku were charging a fare of $2.50 for a distance of only 21.1km whilst Marondera was charged $7 and Domboshava $5 which is unbelievable considering that not so long, Mabvuku used to be charged $1 and on a good day you could even pay as little as $0.50.
In an interview with The Mail and Telegraph, a driver who plies the Glen Lorne-Tollgate -Mother Care -Chishawasha route had this to say:
We had to abandon our usual rates as everything we need to keep our vehicles safe and roadworthy is being demanded in foreign currency, whether it is tyres, oils or spares, we have to pay in united states dollars that we can only get at a rate hence our prices also needed adjustment.
It’s not only about spares but also the fuel factor. There some service stations that are demanding foreign currency and we have to resort to paying hard currency since they don’t have long queues other than spending the whole day in a queue whilst people don’t have transport.
There is now an air of despondency and fatalism among daily commuters who feel that they are now working for transport fares and nothing else.