By Olivia Nabaggala
In a bid to ensure passengers’ safety ,the managing director of link bus company Solomon Nsimire has embarked on the national wide training for the company’s managers in order to prepare them to be ready to handle any business related queries and other forms of challenges that may come across their way especially during the festive season.
It should be noted that in festive season passengers tend to be many in number compared to the normal days as they travel from Kampala to various destinations in their rural areas.
Nsimire said they already trained their drivers and they know the dos and don’ts as they are on duty. Adding that they also placed notices in all their buses to ensure that passengers report any bad driver driving on the road as well as those who spend their time on phones while driving.
Nsimire adds that in the training they have held with their managers they have reviewed the state in which are in and developed new strategies to move forward especially in the festive season that is highly targeted by various challenges that include accidents ,terrorists ,theft among others .
Nsimire said they are forced to hike transport fees in the festive season because they don’t get customers who return to Kampala from villages and for them to keep their business running,they have to increase the transport fares by 50% for the empty buses they drive as they return to the city which also applies to those from villages to Kampala immediately after the festive season.
Nsimire also revealed that they are part of the operation being carried out by the Uganda Bus Owners Association ( UBOA) aimed at cracking down on all brokers in their business that operate in bus parks and streets saying that these are thieves masquerading as bus operators who end up cheat various passengers through over charging them and some stealing the customers luggage.
Last year Government through the minister of state for Kampala Kabuye kyofatogabye issued new guidelines barring all public transport brokers after receiving various complaints from bus and taxi operators about the public brokers in the public transport who manipulate innocent passengers and extort money from them.
Nsimire appealed to government to come up with measures to ensure that drivers follow traffic and road regulations especially in festive season.
Gitta Andrew Kasirye, the one in charge of security under link Bus Company confirmed that they are prepared to protect their customers with their luggage through various means right from park to the bus terminals up to their final destinations.
The Link Bus manager in charge of Bwera-kasese route Saad Nyakahuma revealed that they are ready to work hand in hand with their customers since they have already been equipped with all necessary materials that include metal detectors, manual checkups yet are also in good terms with the police patrol vans that inspect various lanes in their areas.
