Pioneer wants special lanes for its buses

By Brian Mayanja

Pioneer bus company is seeking a concession to be allocated eight major city roads with special lanes. However, city councillors are yet to approve the new concession agreement.

This demand, which is key to their operations, is currently being reviewed by Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA).

If the concession agreement is passed, other public transport providers will be prohibited from accessing these roads.

But with the current bickering between the Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago and the majority of councillors, the concession could be delayed.

However, the bus company announced it would resume business within a week.

“Lukwago has been fighting Pioneer Easy Bus Company and I doubt whether he will let its new contract be passed. All we want is for the company to provide cheap services,” said Godfrey Asiimwe, a Rubaga division councillor.

He added: “I will try to convince my colleagues to change the two taxi parks into bus terminals.”

The eight major roads Pioneer want to use include Masaka Road, Wakaligga Road, Hoima Road and Mubende Road on the western route. The eastern route has Jinja Road, Port Bell Road, Kira Road and the Northern Bypass.

According to the concession, each bus is expected to perform 12 round trips per day on the respective routes.

Before Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) impounded the buses two months ago, the buses were operating on five major routes.

The owners of the buses said they made losses because they were competing with other transport operators like taxis and bodaboda cyclists.

The first routes were under a public-private partnership that Pioneer Easy Bus signed with KCCA on August 18, 2010.

Each side in the partnership had a specific role to play. But by the time URA impounded the buses, KCCA had not executed its part.

John Masanda, one of the bus company’s directors said KCCA was supposed to dedicate special bus lanes on specific routes and to create bus stops, but this was not done.

Last week, President Museveni backed a proposal to give Pioneer buses particular routes.

This was during a meeting attended by KCCA executive director Jennifer Musisi, security minister Muruli Mukasa, directors of Pioneer Easy Bus Company and other stakeholders, at State House, Entebbe.

Masanda said the President acted on their petition.

“We told the President that cities which are using commuter taxis are still backward and have failed to develop. We also showed him World Bank statistics, indicating how African countries like South Africa and Ghana, which largely depend on buses, are developing at a high speed,” Masanda said.