Princess Masiiwa
Zimre Park residents in Masvingo are calling on authorities to bring in Zupco buses as they are facing transport difficulties travelling to and from town as the area is reported to have only four pirate taxis that ply the route.
Residents from the area are forced to walk the distance of around five kilometers to get to the low-density suburb from town.
Virginia Pedzisai a resident from Zimre Park said they walk all the way to and from work because of transport challenges and the few taxes operating in their area are taking advantage to charge exorbitant fares.
“Sometimes we are forced to walk all the way to work because there is shortage of transport. We walk because we cannot afford to spend a lot on transport every day,” said Pedzisai.
Precious Rugare a Great Zimbabwe University (GZU) law student said lack of Zupco buses is causing them to arrive late at school.
“Most of the time we arrive late at school because there will be not enough transport,” said Rugare.
Tanyaradzwa Chigura said the pirate taxis are very few to an extent that they end up walking to Rhodene to find transport.
“We walk all the way to Rhodene to find transport because even taxis are very few to cater for everyone staying in the area,” said Chigura.
Tendai Mavende appealed to responsible authorities to consider their plight by bringing Zupco franchised kombis, a solution that will go a long in ending these transport woes that has forced people to board expensive taxis which sometimes charge US$ 1 one way.
“I urge the authorities to bring in a few Zupco kombis because that could be the only solution to solve transport problems that have forced residents to board expensive taxis that charge US$ 1 to go to town,” said Mavende.
Zupco Masvingo area manager Rashy Mazarire said there are Zupco kombis that go to Rhodene and they will make sure that some of them will also pass through to Zimre Park.
“We have people’s request and we will make sure that some Zupco kombis that go to Rhodene will also pass through to Zimre Park,” said Mazarire.
Since the Covid-19 travel restrictions that resulted in the parastatal enjoying monopoly in the transport sector, more questions than answers have been raised over the capacity of Zupco to serve the nation as the sole public transport provider.
