The Metropolitan Transport Agency (AMT) has identified at least 4,000 transport vehicles in the Mozambican capital for installation of an electronic ticketing system, as part of a plan to support passengers with subsidies as the cost of living rises.
The electronic ticketing system will operate using a card called “Famba”, subsidised by the government, a strategy that aims to soften the impact of the worsening price of transport and rise in the cost of living in Mozambique.
“[The vehicles] have already been inspected for the selection of the best procedure for the installation of electronic ticketing,” explained the technical administrator of AMT, Armando Bembele, quoted today by daily newspaper Notícias.
The Maputo City Council approved in July the increase in passenger transport fares in the Mozambican capital, due to the rise in fuel prices.
Under the new tariff, the price of transport for distances of up to 10 kilometres rose from 12 meticais (0.18 euros) to 15 meticais (0.23 euros) and for journeys over 10 kilometres the cost rose from the current 15 meticais to 19 meticais (0.29 euros).
The approval of the new tariff came after the stoppages on 04 July, when owners of buses and ‘chapas’, light vehicles improvised as collective urban transport, pulled over their vehicles in protest against the rise in fuel prices, causing long queues and confusion in some areas of the Mozambican capital.
