Christmas bus fares rise: Adopt e-ticketing to save passengers

As usual every year one week before Christmas, different bus companies almost double transport fares for Ugandans traveling upcountry to spend Christmas with their family, friends and relatives.

According to some bus operators, upcountry fares from Kampala had increased from Shs30,000 to Shs60,000 and likely to continue increasing in the following days due to the surge in passenger numbers in the run up to Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.

According to Mr Wazen Kamara, the booking officer at a bus stage in Kampala, “We usually increase transport fares during the Christmas period because of overwhelming demand, passengers are usually many during the festive season hence competition. Besides, the fuel prices compel us to also increase transport fares”.

As many passengers complain about the unfair hike in transport costs, there is no one to hear their issues as it seems government does not have any control over transport costs and more importantly, transport operators.

Many Ugandans recognise that there is less money in circulation in the economy, families feeling the pinch are stressed and constrained as Christmas household budgets are almost non-existent.

Some people lament that if only the NRM government had not abandoned Uganda’s railway network 30 years ago and invested in railway infrastructure linking different parts of the country, transport costs would be much cheaper and Uganda would not be at the mercy of private bus company operators.

The Kenyan government in 2014 started trying different measures to provide solutions to constant price hikes by bus company operators.
The Kenyan public transport is operated through Saccos, and the complex ownership structures where vehicles are owned and operated by private individuals.

That gives rise to semi-private systems in which commuters are charged highly variable fares, especially during bad weather, rainy seasons, peak hours and festive seasons such as Easter and Christmas.

The Kenyan government is trying to address these issues by introducing e-tickets and cashless bus travel cards. They realised that not only are passengers suffering with bus operators’ unauthorised and unregulated price hikes but also government’s role had been reduced to mere oversight.

Therefore, government was losing revenue owing to inadequate tax tracking systems. Through e-ticking, government is able to centralise, control, protect customers from bus operator price shocks and create more effective bus operators’ tax revenue collection systems for the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).

According to KRA, e-ticketing system besides the cards also comes with a portable receipt printer which produces receipt automatically once the commuter has made their payments. The system is, therefore, able to keep track of the payments made, and how much the bus operators would have to pay in taxes.

The data would be easy to verify, as each payment could be tracked to the card that was used. The receipts also have the details of the bus route and registration numbers among other details for security purposes.

Rwanda in 2016 implemented an e-ticking system known as Tap&Go seeing the country further its ambition to achieve cashless economy in the medium-term. That is part of the Smart Kigali initiative to modernise the capital.

According to Finance minister Claver Gatete, “We know that ICT is going to help us drive our knowledge-based economy, create jobs, increase revenue and tax collection.” In Uganda, as 2018 comes to a close, government seems to be struggling with service delivery for her citizens.

The prospect of e-ticketing for bus operators seems farfetched. Perhaps 2019 will avail government the opportunity to meet the population’s needs and expectations in line with other East African countries.

Ms Victoria Nyeko is a media commentator.
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Twitter:@VictoriaNyeko