Passengers in Ngororero district have decried the poor management of transport systems and the continued illegal pricing of bus fares by some of the transport operators.
Most of the residents have pointed fingers to the government operated transport company (Onatracom) which has allegedly cut down the fares contrary to the established legal transportation guidelines set by Rwanda Utility and Regulatory Agency (RURA).
This according to passengers has resulted in chaos in NgororeroTaxi Park as passengers have to struggle to get transport as a result of touts and drivers trying to maximize the day’s profit to outcompete Onatracom.
For example, Onatracom busses in the area have reduced the prices from Rwf2000 to Rwf1500 which has made other transporter have to struggle looking for passengers as they too have to wait for buses to fill up, said Ali Hitimana, the private sector representative in the park.
These complaints come at a time when the defunct Rwanda national transport company Onatracom is set to be dissolved into a new and independent transport operation company -Rwanda Interlink Transport Corporation Ltd (RITCO), according to the ministry of infrastructure.
Lt Colonel John BoscoMurasanyi, the acting director of Onatracom said that the company still operates under RURA guidelines and was not aware of the mishap, but said that this matter will be crossed checked.
“We have the same pricing for all our busses and they consume fuel like others. I don’t know how this can be possible in business. The fact is that this will be resolved soon since the company has been sold out.” Murasanyi said.
Created in 1970s as state-owned public transport enterprise, Onatracom was given a social mission to operate in rural routes and other routes which the private operators cannot operate because they are not profitable.
The company is also used to transport people during celebrations of national days such as Independence Day and Liberation Day. It was also tasked to provide other services such as production of car number plates, vehicle technical inspection, repair and servicing of government vehicles and management of taxi parks across the country.
Onatracom was entitled to budgetary support from the government and this would supplement the revenues from the transport services and other services for the company to continue operating as a monopoly in transport services and other services.
However, most of these services have been stripped off of Onatracom and it is only left with transport services. Production of car number plates has been shifted to the Rwanda Revenue Authority (RRA), vehicle technical inspection has been moved to the Rwanda National Police (RNP), repair and servicing of government vehicles is now open for competition by the owners of private garages, and management of taxi parks has been decentralized to local administration such as districts.
Since 2008, the government has also cut the budget support to the company. As a result, Onatracom started experiencing cash flow problems in 2009.
