Coronavirus: Team creates screen for boda bodas

PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Uganda is following a systematic plan that should eventually see it fully lift its coronavirus lockdown some weeks or months to come. For now, public transport remains suspended.

In the coming days, as per President Yoweri Museveni's guidance in his last national address on the COVID-19 situation, commuter taxis will be back on the road, but with strict guidelines to be observed. For instance, they will have to carry no more than half the number of passengers they have previously been transporting. And all occupants will have to wear face masks.

But boda bodas and rickshaws (tuk tuks) will not be allowed to carry passengers yet. They will have to wait a little longer until they have received further official guidance from the President.

For now, they are only allowed to transport cargo and make home or office deliveries of such items as food.

For boda boda riders, who had been used to making a quick buck from riding passengers from point A to point B, the lockdown has tested their patience. While they have no choice but to adhere to the guidelines, their forbearance is wearing out.

This wait has led some innovative minds to come up with ways of how to convince Government to allow get back to carrying passengers.

One such team has created a sturdy plastic screen that can be fitted onto a boda boda as a barrier between a rider and the passenger they are carrying.

 

The creators of this screen believe it can help prevent the potential transmission of the coronavirus from passenger to rider, or vice versa.

 

The leadership of boda boda riders have hailed the innovation and, basing on this creation, they are urging Government to give them the green light.

 

President Yoweri Museveni emphasised that everyone must wear a face mask while in public to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Meanwhile, the Government has issued tough rules to regulate public transport in Kampala, when operations resume on June 4.

Commuter taxis, for instance, will first be registered and assigned to operate on designated routes and will also be restricted to stop at specific places or stages.

Public transport was suspended mid-March as one of the ways to arrest the spread of the coronavirus.