It’s not business as usual at Ubungo Bus Terminal: survey

Dar es Salaam. The number of people travelling to up-country during this festive season has gone down compared to last year’s, with the ticket agents blaming it on the much-talked-about economic hardships.

Amidst these concerns, ticket agents, in separate interviews with The Citizen, spoke the same language over the current state of affairs; with all saying government’s cost-cutting measures have affected people’s incomes and hence the trend. In a bid to institute discipline in government spending, among other measures, President John Magufuli banned all but essential foreign travels by public servants, immediately after he was sworn in president last year.

“The economic hardship is becoming worrisome for majority Tanzanians, especially for ordinary citizens whose incomes are not stable and the poor. For traders, we feel the pinch hard,” Kilimanjaro Express clerk Anna Msele said. She added: “Many of the residents wanted to join their relatives for the festivities, but, they were barred by the prevailing economic conditions in the country.”

Kilimanjaro Express Company, according to her, has cut the number of daily buses to and from Arusha via Kilimanjaro regions down to 20 from 32 last year, according to her. She said this year’s festive season performance, though yet to come to an end, has nothing different with that of normal seasons last year. During normal seasons in this year, the 52-capacity Kilimanjaro Express Company buses used to make about 16 trips daily.

According to the official, in previous years, with effect from December 1st, the Ubungo Bust Terminal began to get a lot more busy as traveller movements up-country increased all due to the festive season. “It was common at this time to see this Ubungo Bus Terminal bubbling with people of various ages and social backgrounds who were ready to move out of the city,” Ms Msele noted. The Citizen could not see much going on at the terminal other than the usual activities. Ms Msele said their company was still enjoying the brand it has created over the years. For his part, Mr Oswald Luambano, a ticket agent working with Zuber Bus Services Company and Kisesa Express Company, whose buses travel to and from Mwanza, said this time of the year was usually referred to as the harvest season, but things appear to have changed. “People even did not care much about the hiked fare rates, travellers were prepared for that, all they wanted was to get a chance to travel,” noted Mr Luambano.

He added: “Last December, unusual things happened, travellers used to lobby ticket agents even at a higher price than the official one, but the situation was different this time.”

For the two buses, he said, trips on a daily basis during festival season this year stood at eight compared to 12 during the same period last year. “As you can see, there is little activity going on here compared to last year’s. It’s all due to the economic hardships people are experiencing,” Saratoga Bus Company agent Juliana Haule explained. The company’s buses ply the Dar es Salaam - Kigoma route.

Ms Haule added: “In my opinion, the ones travelling now are those who didn’t do so during the last season.” She said this season they had four buses daily, instead of two during the normal season. Last year, however, during the festive season, they added up to six buses.

Mr Musa Alfan, an agent with Rungwe Bus Services Company (Dar-Mbeya), expressed to The Citizen his frustrations over the decline in business performance attributing it to the declining incomes. “As economic hardship bites, we had to park some buses,” he said.

For the part of the petty traders at the terminal, they said they were worried with the trend, because their incomes have been falling and they could fail to meet their daily needs.

Mr Hussein Ismail, a food vendor, said his daily sales have gone down to Sh100,000 from the average of Sh200, 000 last year.

But, according to him, there was an improvement compared to normal times in the year when he gets an average of Sh50,000 only.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, one luggage trolley man said that during last year’s festive season, he could make up to Sh20,000 daily, but in this year, he would be lucky to earn Sh10,000. Surface and Marine Transport Regulatory Authority (Sumatra) road transport regulation director Johansen Kahatano admitted that business movement at the terminal had declined during this season compared to last year’s. “I don’t have the figures with me right now, but what I can say is that business performance has gone down,” he said.

In his opinion, Mr Kahatano linked the trend to change in life style, saying possibly people decided not to travel and instead engage in economic activities to generate more income ahead of the January financial obligations.

Tanzania Bus Owners Association (Taboa) spokesman Mustafa Mwalongo said poor record in business performance, which he also attributed to economic hardship, had a negative impact on their operations as they always expected to boost their profit margins during this season. Going by the past surveys by The Citizen, a large number of ‘daladala’ has in festival season been receiving temporary licences to convey up-country travellers.

Sumatra had also, in this year announced to issue the same licences, but only a few ‘daladala’ were witnessed at the terminal around 10am waiting for Moshi and Tanga travellers.