Dar es Salaam. The Land Transport Regulatory Authority (Latra) has issued permits to 150 new for commuter buses, commonly known as daladala, in a move aimed to ease passenger flow and improve public transport services in Dar es Salaam, following election-related violence that disrupted the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) operations.
The October 29 unrest saw vandalism of infrastructure such as the BRT stations, damaging of its buses, prompting the government to suspend their services until further notice.
The Morogoro Road corridor was mostly affected by the vandalism while some parts of the Kilwa Road corridor was also affected.
Following the destruction, the government announced to temporarily suspend the BRT services after infrastructure on phases one and two of the system was damaged.
Announcing the suspension, Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Mr Albert Chalamila, directed Latra to issue temporary permits to ensure transport services continue along the two affected routes.
“Therefore, for all those who were expecting to use the BRT, we are suspending the service to assess the extent of the damage caused.
As you can see, even the gate systems have been destroyed. For this reason, we are directing Latra to issue temporary permits to ensure transport services continue along the two affected routes,” he said.
Latra’s Head of Communications and Public Relation, Mr Salum Pazzy, said the 150 buses will add to the existing 148 buses on the Morogoro Road route, bringing the total number to 298.
“A technical assessment conducted by the authority showed that 150 additional buses were necessary to supplement the existing fleet. If demand increases, we will issue more permits to allow additional daladalas,” he said.
Mr Pazzy explained that each minibus will have a seating capacity of 26 passengers.
According to him, Latra has always ensured that public transport continues uninterrupted, even when BRT routes are introduced or adjusted.
“Even when Mofat’s (operator of Phase Two) buses were deployed to operate along Morogoro Road, we did not withdraw the 148 daladala that were already assigned to their respective routes. They have continued to support passenger transport and complement BRT services,” he noted.
The authority says the decision is part of ongoing efforts to ensure reliable and efficient public transport, especially during peak travel periods and route adjustments.
For BRT Phase Two, Latra’s Director General, Mr Habibu Suluo, said the authority was not considering issuing additional permits for daladala along the corridor, as the extent of infrastructure vandalism there was not as severe as in Phase One.
“The Mbagala route has not been heavily affected, so we do not expect to issue new daladala permits since the only station that was slightly damaged is the one at Mbagala,” he said.
Mofat’s Managing Director, Mr Mohamed Abdallah Kassim, told The Citizen that he is hopeful the damaged infrastructure will be repaired soon so that their operations can resume and the company can continue servicing its bus loan.
“So far, three of our buses have been completely burnt to ashes,” he said.
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