NRZ fares go up

18 Aug, 2019 - 00:08 0 Views
NRZ fares go up

The Sunday News

Sindisiwe Sibanda, Sunday News Reporter

THE National Railways of Zimbabwe has hiked train fares on its inter-city passenger trains by up to 100 percent on most of its routes as it seeks to remain afloat.

NRZ operates three daily and two weekly inter-city passenger train services countrywide. The daily train return routes are Bulawayo-Victoria Falls, Bulawayo-Harare and Mutare-Harare while the weekly service is offered on the Bulawayo-Chiredzi and Bulawayo-Chikwalakwala routes.

In an interview, NRZ Business and Passenger Services manager Mr Aaron Mahachi said the adjustment of fares was necessitated to recover operational expenses.

“Although the fares have been hiked we have a duty to provide affordable transport services to the people, we are still by far much reasonably priced and cheaper than most roads. We then have to balance the cost of operations and service provision that is why we have increased our prices so that we survive the economic pressures,” said Mr Mahachi.

First class travellers on the Bulawayo-Victoria Falls and Bulawayo-Harare routes will now pay $60 from $30.

Second class is now pegged at $50 from $26 and the economy class is now pegged at $40 from $23. The cost of travelling on the Mutare-Harare return route has been increased to $40 from $30 for first class while the standard class now costs $34 from $26. The economy class now costs $25 up from $23.

However, the weekly train on the Bulawayo-Chiredzi route in first class went up to $60 from $30. Second class is now pegged at $50 from $26 while the economy class now costs $40 from $23. 

The fare on the Bulawayo-Chikwalakwala route went up to $65 from $36 for the first class while the standard class is now pegged at $55 from 32 and for the economy class it went up to $43 from $27. 

Mr Mahachi said the pressure of the input is the reason why fares increased but they are not completely recovering the cost but they increased so as to remain viable realising that most travellers on some routes are rural dwellers. 

“It is against our mandate as providers of transport services to overcharge the public, hence we increased only to balance the pressure at the same time offering affordable charges to the public,” he said. 

@macindie1

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