At least 22 articulated buses arrived in Mozambique on Saturday to reduce the transport crisis in the metropolitan region of Maputo, the country’s capital, a region facing mobility problems, an official source announced today.
“The buses have the capacity to carry 150 seated passengers, which means that the amount that would be transported by around 10 15-seater vehicles can be removed in one go,” said Ambrósio Sitoe, permanent secretary of the Mozambican Ministry of Transport and Communications, quoted today by the local media.
According to Sitoe, the allocation of the articulated buses, which will start running in January 2024, is also aimed at reducing crowding at bus stops, which occurs mainly during rush hour in Maputo.
The acquisition of the buses is the result of a partnership between the Mozambican government and a neighbouring South African company, and they will serve six routes in the capital.
“This solves some challenges and strategic priorities in the transport sector (…) This is the beginning of a process that the ministry is undertaking in order to solve the challenge of urban mobility in the greater Maputo metropolitan area,” said Ambrósio Sitoe.
The Maputo metropolitan area, with around three million inhabitants, covers the district of Marracuene and the municipalities of Maputo, Matola and Boane, concentrating “more than 70 per cent of the entire country’s car fleet”, according to data from the Ministry of Transport.
The transport sector in Mozambique is one of the most deficient in terms of public services in the country, especially road transport, where the crisis in resources has triggered the use of open-top vehicles, jokingly known as ‘my love’, given the physical proximity with which passengers travel in the freight box and the need to sometimes hug each other to avoid falling on the road.
Lusa
