Zimbabwe says 2 300 buses offered for public transport?

The Zimbabwean government which was forced to revamp its Zimbabwe United Passenger Company (ZUPCO) to provide cheaper transport in the urban centres when fares rocketed from under $1 to as much as $5 per trip says it is now inundated with requests to supply buses for the scheme.

The government is planning to introduce a mass transport system to provide affordable transport for its commuters in both urban and rural areas.

So far the focus has been in urban areas, mostly for workers.

The mass transport system was initially introduced in Harare but ZUPCO did not have enough buses and had to source some from private companies.

Former ZUPCO chief executive Bright Matonga said Harare alone required 500 buses, Bulawayo 150 to 200 and the other cities 60 each.

The Ministry of Information today said offers were now close to 2 300.

“The ZUPCO Scheme has been so successful that Govt is inundated by Local & Foreign bus operators wanting to participate,” the ministry said on its twitter account.

“Some are offering to supply buses for hire or direct purchase & some to independently run the service. There are close to 2300 offers of buses on these basis.”

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