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Dilapidated Sanawari road commuters dig deeper into their pockets
Only rickety, wobbly mini buses ply the route

By Hazla Quire 

Operators of passenger commuter vans plying between Arusha City Center and Moivo ward via Sanawari have allegedly hiked their fare charges. They are now  demanding the unofficial 500/- per person, instead of the SUMATRA  endorsed 400/-

The new fare charges, apparently go contrary to the recently fixed prices as announced by the Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (SUMATRA) whose maximum figure is set at 400/- per short urban journey.

The operators claim that, the road leading from Sanawari junction to Moivo is in pathetic condition thus forcing them to raise the fares above the official charges so as to offset regular maintenance costs incurred from plying along the route.

But for the passengers, the move was a ‘rip-off’ based on the fact that very few commuter vans operate along Arusha and Moivo causing travelers to fight for them and this demand has driven the owners to demand more money for fare.

Mr Jones Makwale is an executive SUMATRA official in Arusha Region and has vowed to make follow ups on the issue: “The official fare charges as endorsed by the government had taken into consideration all factors, including fuel, maintenance and road conditions,” he stated.

The vans that ferry people between Arusha, Sanawari and Moivo operate from their own ‘bus station’ behind the Sheikh Amri Abeid Stadium where hundreds of people can be seen waiting for the vehicles that usually take time to arrive at the area.

The vehicle themselves happen to be the small-sized Toyota Hiace and Nissan Urvan vehicles that as far as the said route is concerned, happen to be extremely worn-out contraptions, having been discarded from other town routes and possibly dumped into Sanawari road where there is little competition.
The distance between Arusha City center and Moivo is around four kilometers one way.
 The new bus fares were floated by SUMTRA early this year and went into operation from the 15th of April around the country. In Arusha the new fares raised uproar among commuters who out cried the rise saying life was already too expensive even before the new fares.

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