By Henry Mulindwa
A declaration by the president to reopen public transport has been received with mixed reactions.On the part of the taxi operators, the main challenge is on how to effect the president guidelines particularly to do with sanitizers and number of passengers.The operators are already worried that even after reopening, most people are now financially struggling to afford the new transport fares that will come with the guidelines that oblige drivers to only transport half the sitting capacity of mainly taxis.Currently, a PSV taxi carries 14 people excluding the driver and the conductor. However, with the fresh guidelines as we head towards reopening due on June 4, only nine passengers will be allowed in the car including the driver.Herbert Makanga, a taxi operator who plies his business on Kampala-Hoima road, told us that the new guidelines not only effect them but also the passengers. In such a situation, he is certain that the passengers will have to foot higher fares compared to the previous fares.”We have no option but to share this burden with the passengers. The taxi owners will also have to suffer because the daily charges we pay will be affected. It is going to be a difficult situation and it is going to push many out of this business” he opines.Isaac Mukwana, who acts as a taxi conductor on Kampala-Luzira road is worried that taxis doing town service are going to be affected mostly as the passengers will opt for footing than paying exhobitant fees.”Already, people are used to walking. How do you expect someone to part with shs5000 in places where he or she has been paying shs3000? The only option available is to walk. Moreover, jam is going to increase. This therefore means only those who do upcountry routes will get some meaningful returns from taxis. Otherwise, it’s a challenge to us even when we reopen” he says.Mukwana adds that because of these strict guidelines, already some drivers have put their conductors on notice that their services are suspended until the situation normalizes.This therefore leaves the drivers to operate without conductors.”As you can see, the driver will work alone. I am even afraid that the spread of COVID-19 will be quick if all passengers are left to open and close for themselves the taxi doors. The door handles can easily infect all passengers that will use such a taxi in case one of them is infected” he says, adding that when the taxis reopen, the president needs to come out and dictate that all taxis must have a conductor.”The conductor should be the only one to man the door. This will reduce on the chances of people getting infected. We urge the president to either exclude the driver and conductor on the specified number or task all drivers to have conductors as has been the case” he says.As for drivers, the only way passengers will get better charges is by government reducing on fuel prices.”Currently, the prices are high. We really don’t know why because when you compare with other countries, the fuel prices are low. It is only fair that the president also looks into this to assist the taxi operators and the passengers” he said.The operators warn that several taxis doing business in KMP are likely to run out of business as they cannot try long routes since most of them are old.President Museveni yesterday announced that public transport would resume on June 4 after two months of lockdown. The same Museveni however, put conditions that for them to reopen, the taxis and buses must carry half the number of the normal sitting capacity in addition to all passengers and operators having masks. As for private cars, Museveni asked them to have only three people including the driver.

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