HARARE – ZUPCO took delivery of 28 buses on Tuesday – the first fleet of 800 that the government ordered as it bids to revolutionise the urban transport system across the country.
President Emmerson Mnangagwa, who spoke at the commissioning, said the buses would provide an alternative to commuters who are being overcharged by commuter omnibus operators.
“The challenges of public transport will now be a thing of the past,” Mnangagwa said, while accusing commuter omnibus operators of “causing untold suffering to the people by wantonly hiking their fares.”
The buses “will make life better, easier and more affordable for Zimbabweans, both urban and rural,” Mnangagwa said, hailing the arrival of the buses as a “journey of progress which is just beginning.”
He added: “We will work to ensure all the people of Zimbabwe are on board.”
Five hundred of the 800 buses will be bought from Belarus, 200 from South Africa and a 100 from China.
ZUPCO is upgrading its fleet management system and will be using software developed by Harare Institute of Technology’s director of technology transfer, Talon Garikai.
