LATRA issues ultimatum for unregistered bus crews

DAR ES SALAAM: THE Land Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA) has set until December 31st for upcountry bus operators to register their bus crews.

In its statement to the public, the authority ordered that after the deadline the unregistered crews will not be allowed to serve in buses.

Addressing the journalists on Thursday in Dar es Salaam, LATRA’s Head of the Public Relations and Communications, Salum Pazzy said the bus operators should use bus crews registered by the authority.

“From January 1, we (LATRA) will not permit upcountry bus operators to use unregistered bus crews,” Mr Pazzy stressed.

Mr Pazzy also encouraged the bus operators to ensure that their staff have received the training before the deadline.

He also reminded the service providers (bus crews) who have already attended the training to submit their application document to the authority through Railway and Road Information Management System (RRIMS) for the registration.

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However, Mr Pazzy informed that the application document should include the training certificate.

“Currently the authority continues to register those who have already been trained, but also we continue to coordinate the training to ensure that it reaches all the service providers countrywide in collaboration with the College of Business Education (CBE) and the National Institute of Transport (NIT).”

For his part, Customer Service Training Coordinator for NIT, Ms Honesta Msaki said so far, the college has trained a total of 503 bus attendants since the programme introduced last year.

She also said the college planned to extend the service to different parts of the country to reach the people who are in need. CBE’s Deputy Rector, Dr Nasibu Mramba, said the training covers various issues including safety and rescue.

” This seven-day training includes various topics such as ethics, health and environment, how to use information technology and communication in serving passengers and many others,” he added.

In November last year, LATRA officially launched training for commercial vehicle operators, especially passenger bus crew to improve land transport services.