In an interview with Sunday Mail, Minister of Transport and Infrastructural Development Joel Biggie Matiza disclosed the deal with private buses plying routes as ZUPCO buses.
Matiza said they invited private players to come on board and operate under the ZUPCO banner because the parastatal does not have enough buses. He said the private companies bring their buses with a driver and ZUPCO provides a conductor. The buses get fuel from Government‘s CMED and Petrotrade. Said Matiza:
We have just rolled out the programme after witnessing the chaos that was now rampant on our roads and in the urban transport sector. It is a model that Local Government had started some time back. However, at this stage there is an inter-Ministerial committee comprising the Ministry of Local Government, Ministry of Finance and Economic Development and ourselves. We came up with this plan, as we all know, ZUPCO does not have many buses so we invited other players to come on board and operate under the ZUPCO banner. It is like a franchise and this will increase the number of buses. People will bring their buses with a driver and ZUPCO provides a conductor. They will get fuel from Government‘s CMED and Petrotrade.
More: Sunday Mail