How Global Bus got in trouble

Jun 08, 2019

Bagiire noted that he was mindful of the fact that Global Bus provides a service to the public which is critical, but that the safety of the passengers on the road is very important and must at all times be safeguarded.

State Minister for Works and Transport Henry Bagiire has directed the Transport Licensing Board (TLB) to, "withdraw with immediate effect the single route chart for Global Bus Company." He had also directed TLB to immediately inspect its fleet and individually license buses that fulfill the roadworthiness requirement.

Bagiire was reacting to Wednesday head-on collision between Global Bus and a tipper truck at Kayabwe in which the cause of the accident was attributed to the recklessness of the bus driver.

"On several occasions, I have also received complaints from the public regarding the operations of Global Buses on the Kampala-Mbarara route. I have been reliably informed that the buses are reckless on the road and continue to violate the conditions of the single route chat issued to them," the Minister said.

Bagiire noted that he was mindful of the fact that Global Bus provides a service to the public which is critical, but that the safety of the passengers on the road is very important and must at all times be safeguarded.

In a letter to TLB Chairperson, John Mutenda, Bagiire directed the Board to ensure that all the buses are accredited by the TLB. He also asked Global Bus to provide TLB with sufficient explanation on why their operations should not be suspended within 7 days. The Minister also directed action to be taken on the drivers involved in the recklessness.

He demanded TLB to furnish him with a report with 14 days and also copied the letter to the Director of Traffic at the Uganda Police Force.

Efforts to get a comment from Global Bus proved futile. However, Nathan Byanyima, who is the Uganda Bus Operators Association Multi-Stakeholders Chairperson, told Saturday Vision they had not yet received the Ministers directive. He noted that they would follow up with the authorities to find out why they had rushed this decision.

"We are concerned as stakeholders in the bus business. It's not our intention to cause accidents on the roads and sometimes these accidents are beyond our control," Byanyima noted.

He said that the Association meets every Thursday to update themselves with the events of the week and also correct one another. Byanyima noted that some members of the association had installed software on their phones and were able to monitor the speed of their buses, but that there are those who had so many buses and were unable to monitor them.

On Thursday morning, another bus belonging to Gagaa bus driver knocked dead an elephant at Tangi near the Pakwach. The issue of the recklessness of Global Bus was raised by one Henry Mutebe on Social media last week. In his post he noted that the bus driver had exceeded the speed limit but intead he was attacked by several other commentators.

"I have tried to talk about road safety and why Ugandans shouldn't let these buses drive at terrible speeds beyond what's even allowed under the law and I was attacked by many who called me a coward. Some told me to go and buy my own bus. That is how pathetic some people can be," he says.

"Others said global coaches is the safest and has no accident record and its speed is not an issue.  Twice I complained about speeds not because I hate it but I care about the safety of passengers many of whom have families and I insisted that if global coaches doesn't work on its speed they will cause problems," Mutebe added.

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