Stakeholders in the Public Transport Sector will on Thursday, January 30 2020 hold a grand meeting at the auditorium of Kansanga based International University of East Africa, under the theme; ‘From planning to execution.’
This meeting will be a climax of other meetings which have been held with different stakeholders in the public transport industry including the Ministry of Transport, Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA), local governments of Wakiso, Mukono among others.
Recently, President Yoweri Museveni issued a directive to the Ministry of Finance to fast track the Tondeka Metro buses initiative aimed at improving urban transport services in and around the capital city.
A total of 980 Ashok Leyland buses from Hinduja Group, India are going to be imported this year to kick start a safe, reliable and affordable public transport system in Kampala metropolitan.
The buses which will be known as Tondeka will initially ply Kampala-Mukono, Kampala-Nsangi, Kampala-Buloba, Kampala-Wakiso, Kampala-Matugga and Kampala-Ggaba and will be managed by Uganda Development Corporation.
For the first time in the history of urban transportation, passengers will experience and enjoy a robust cashless system, which will see passengers use cards to swipe their way on board.
Uganda is the only country in the East African region that is still lagging behind as Kenya, Tanzania and Rwanda have already implemented Mass Bus Transit systems within their cities to rid them of the traffic gridlock which is characteristic of many cities in the developing economies.
The government project is viewed by transport economists as a game changer, an initiative that has been way long overdue.
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