I’ve seen the worst of Horizon coaches

SIR—I was most amused to read Ms Faith Mbabazi’s letter “Horizon Coaches”, published on January 18. I was fortunate enough not to have had to travel to Kampala during the Christmas season, when Horizon inflates its tariffs by between 50 and 100 percent, but I am unfortunate enough to have to travel the route from Kabale once a month on average. While Horizon is, allegedly, the best of a bad bunch, the following issues should be addressed: In the Kampala bus park, and in Kabale, buses do not leave until full, which often provides for a three-hour wait until departure. The exceptions to this rule are the early buses from Kabale, which parade through the town between 5 and 7 a.m. using their horns to ensure that the whole population is awake. Overloading is commonplace and causes an unpleasant and, frankly, bad mannered stampede for seats at Mbarara. Old and infirm people, beware! As for cleanliness, the number of times I have found my bags, left on the floor due to lack of space in the overhead racks, soaked in urine is something I would rather not have to count.Mbabazi’s contention that the police have nothing to worry about is, quite simply laughable. On the last journey I was forced to endure, we were subjected to a display of driving so unsafe I was looking for an ejector seat. Do all bus drivers think that they are Michael Schumacher or Chipper Adams? By the time I left the bus at Mbarara, the driver had forced at least two cars from the road, had overtaken at high speed up blind hills and around blind corners, and the conductor clearly thought I was mad when I suggested that the bus was being driven in a dangerous manner. The 140 kms took one hour and twenty-five minutes, an average speed of 98 kph!Finally, on a slight target, I was saddened by the loss of four of Mbabazi’s colleagues in a high speed accident last year. It is very distressing that lives should be lost in this way, but equally distressing is the fact that it took an accident of this kind to focus the media attention on the dreadful and appalling state of driving in this country.As I have no vehicle of my own, however, I shall be forced to continue taking my life into my hands every time I need to do business in Kampala.Paddy RobertsKampala