Utoda may still be relevant

Jul 06, 2011

PRESS reports indicate that Kampala mayor Erias Lukwago is determined to change the way the city is being managed and to modernise it.

PRESS reports indicate that Kampala mayor Erias Lukwago is determined to change the way the city is being managed and to modernise it.

Lukwago has put pressure on the Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers Association (UTODA) to streamline its operations and improve the quality of public transport in Kampala.

However, to understand the performance of UTODA, it is important to know the factors that led to its ascension as a transport operator.

One of the factors was the World Bank’s policy on financing urban transport in the 1980s and 1990s.

The World Bank’s view then was that small size, informally regulated and privately owned transport enterprises such as the minibus taxis, were more profitable than the state-funded high capacity transit systems.

Besides, the ascension of UTODA coincided with the collapse of state capitalism across the globe.

In Kampala, for example, the demise of the Uganda Transport Corporation (UTC) was a clear sign of the miserable failure of state capitalism and the emergence of neo-liberal economic policies such as privatisation.

Also, the success of UTODA as a public transport enterprise in the 1990s was due to the adoption of market capitalism in form of privatisation.

Across the globe, minibus taxis are self-financing transit systems and have been able to meet the operating costs. For the most part, the bigger buses have under–performed and many bus companies, including UTC collapsed years ago. So the suggestion by some people to cancel UTODA’s contract and bring in bigger buses, without establishing what impact this could have on the transport sector, could be unwise.

In Kampala, transit performance systems should not be determined by politicised debates staged on radio but by the environment in which the public transport systems operate.

To establish a conducive environment for the operation of transport systems and improve their performance, KCC would need to build partnerships with the various stakeholders especially the private sector.

However, as partnerships are being fostered, the stakeholders would need to restructure their operations and respond to the needs of the travellers.

So, with the new strategy and introduction of high capacity vehicles, UTODA could still be relevant to the public.
The writer is a lecturer at the faculty of Architecture, Makerere University

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