By ALVAR MWAKYUSA
AT LAST, THE BUS RAPID TRANSIT (BRT) PROJECT IN DAR ES SALAAM IS SET TO
BECOME OPERATIONAL EARLY NEXT MONTH ALONG THE 20.9 KILOMETRES ROUTE
BETWEEN KIMARA AND KIVUKONI, IT HAS BEEN CONFIRMED.
Delays on completion of boarding terminals on the route have stalled the
kick-start of the modern public transport which was earlier slated to
commence last month, according to Chief Executive of Dar Rapid Transit
Agency (DART), Ms Asteria Mlambo.
City dwellers have been counting on the project to ease transport woes
in the city, particularly the first phase of the project along the
Kivukoni-Kimara route as well as Kinondoni Morocco-Magomeni and Kariakoo
Gerezani-Fire sections.
The DART boss assured the ‘Daily News’ over the phone yesterday that the
project will start operations once the facilities have been completed.
“By next week, the agency will issue a statement on the status of the
project but all is going on well save for the terminals which are being
finalized,” she explained.
In a separate interview with this newspaper, the Managing Director of
UDA-RT, Mr Moses Kisena, said final touches were being effected to
complete the project. “Buses to ply the routes are already in the
country and what has remained is installation of Intelligent
Transportation Systems (ITS), which is the brain for running the BRT
project.
“The ITS will coordinate automated fare collection systems (AFS) in
addition to scheduling and tracking of buses as well as operation of
biometric systems in the vehicles,” Mr Kisena remarked.
The UDA-RT has signed a twoyear interim contract to operate buses on the
modern project, the one and only in East and Central Africa. Mr Kisena
noted further that 10 tonnes of turnstiles or fare gates from Belgium
had arrived in the country last Wednesday to be fixed at boarding
terminals.
“The installation work should take between two and three weeks after
which transportation of passengers will commence,” he remarked.
According to the UDA-RT boss, the fare gates will be operated through
near-field communication systems which will require passengers to swap
their e-tickets when boarding or disembarking from the buses.
“There will be as well a validation card-reader to calculate the amount
of fare to be charged when a passenger disembarks from the bus,” he
explained during the telephone interview.
The UDA-RT has so far procured 140 buses to ply the routes, including
101 buses with a capacity to carry 150 passengers while the remaining 39
will operate on the feeder roads and will carry 80 passengers at a go.
Source: Tanzania Daily News
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