President Emmerson Mnangagwa Thursday commissioned another batch of 115 Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) buses bringing the fleet owned by the company to over 2600 buses and commuter omnibuses.
The government has been importing buses for the parastatal in a bid to revive and take control of the public sector transport that has in the past decade been predominantly run by private players. See pictures below. Credit: the Ministry of Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services.
Private-owned commuter omnibuses (Kombis) have been the major mode of transport for commuters following the collapse of ZUPCO.
The government banned kombis in 2020 as a measure to curb the transmission and spread of the coronavirus pandemic but has since then refused to allow private-owned kombis a return to the roads.
Only those contracted to the ZUPCO are allowed to pirate routes with authorities arguing that the kombis had caused disorder especially in towns.
Meanwhile, there has been a huge shortage of buses to ferry commuters, a situation that has seen many spend over three hours in queues waiting for their turn to board the buses.