The government is coming up with a new digitalised system to bring errant drivers to order and curb road crashes that have plagued the transport sector.
The development comes after a bus crash claimed the lives of 24 pupils of King David Junior School at Kaserem, along the Kapchorwa-Mbale Road in eastern Uganda on July 16.
A week earlier, another bus carrying students and teachers from Mwebaze High School collided with a train at Namumira railway crossing in Mukono, killing one and injuring multitudes, prompting the government to suspend all school educational trips.
The Commissioner Transport Regulation and Safety in the Ministry of Works, Mr Winstone Katushabe, says they have discovered that most drivers drive for longer hours, with some driving from as far as Kisoro in Western Uganda to Kampala, and immediately jump into another bus to Soroti or Mbale in Eastern Uganda.
‘We are coming up with a new system which is now in the initial stages of being tested, where we have biometric logins to specifically help us to deal with drivers’ fatigue and speed,’ Mr Katushabe said on Thursday.
He was leading a team from Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) and the Directorate of Traffic on a spot check of Kisenyi Bus Terminal as part of their mandate to do routine monitoring, supervision and confirm compliance.
He explained that the driver will have to log-in from the bus terminals, and that bus owners, management of the park, and police are going to be trained on how to navigate the process.
‘Verification of police at checkpoints will be through biometric check-in and then login. When a driver leaves, say, Kampala at 9am, we don’t expect him or her in Lukaya at 10am as that will mean he or she was speeding.
‘But also, it will tell us if you drove from Mbale to Kampala, and will be seen driving from Kampala to Kisoro when you are supposed to be resting. All these are going to help us to deal with fatigue, driver behavior, speed, and enable passengers to travel well,’ he added.
Mr Katushabe said they have held a meeting with the leadership of Kampala Capital City Authority (KCCA) to that effect, and agreed that buses only load passengers in gazetted parks, not ‘gazetted garages’.
He said the impromptu operation followed several complaints from the general public and recent crashes, especially by buses which lack route charts and passenger service vehicles (PSVs), among other statutory requirements.
‘We sampled about two-three cases and found that they didn’t comply with the statutory requirements; some of the drivers ran away, and a number of brokers were found fighting at the entrance of the bus terminal for passengers,’ he said.
‘You find the passenger in a bus and the luggage is in a different bus; or a passenger has children who are being loaded in a different bus from the one the parent is boarding,’ said Mr Katushabe.
The operation further revealed persistent lapses in the transport sector, including issuing of fake tickets allegedly by the elusive brokers, prompting a directive from Mr Katushabe that every bus company should have uniformed guides.
Mr Saturday Muhwezi, the General Manager of Kisenyi Bus Terminal, said they have set up a seven-member committee that will see two uniformed guides allocated at each bus to curb the errant brokers.