GASABO - Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA) is is in talks with public transporters in Kigali to regulate and harmonise transport fares across the country.

This comes less than a week after government announced a reduction in fuel prices, from Rwf 924 to 756 per litre for petrol.

During the first meeting held at Alpha Palace Hotel, Remera Kicukiro District, last week, misunderstandings emerged on whether the current transport tariffs could be reduced or not.

"There is no need to keep transport fares high if there is an 18 percent reduction in petrol prices,” Jean Claude Mvuyikongo, Director of Economic Affairs in RURA said in an interview after the meeting.

He told The New Times that passengers have been paying transporters a marginal profit of 15% since the last tariff review in February 2008.

Chairing the meeting, Mvuyikongo told transporters that RURA is looking at the possibility of reducing transport fares soon.

"What we want is that these transporters should not make excessive profits and of course we don’t want them to incur losses,” the soft spoken RURA official added.

Col (Rtd) Dodo Twahirwa, the chairperson of taxi drivers association, ATRACO, dismissed RURA’s claims noting that the 15% marginal profit is spent on car servicing.

"Look at the Coaster, it costs Rwf 39 million. There is no guarantee of this 15% marginal profit they are talking about. We only do this business because we lovethe profession,” Dodo said.

Other issues raised in the meeting were that many of the transporters are paying bank loans, insurance has been hiked and that sometimes omnibus carry empty sits that are also taxed.

Damien Ndizeye, a representative of the consumers decried the high fares and mistreatment by the transporters.

"When fuel prices hike, almost everyone stands up and advocates for these transporters, but when the fuel prices fall, no one speaks on behalf of the passengers. They continue paying the other hiked price even when the fuel has gone down,” Ndizeye said adding citing taxi conductors and drivers as the culprits.

"What they mind about is only their business. They don’t remember that their business survives because of us the consumers,” Ndizeye emphasised.

Beata Mukangabo RURA Head of Legal Department noted that all these irregularities in the transport sector are due to lack of a system governed by laws to streamline one of the backbone sectors in the economy.

"We have very old laws we use in transport sector. For sure, it is not organised but we are working on it. We are working to put regulations in place and different stakeholders are also working to have a better transport sector,” Mukangabo explained.

Transport costs have been the explanations behind hiked prices on other items ranging from foods and beverages to the services rendered in the country.

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