Bus drivers, taxi drivers and combi drivers all had different opinions about how the reviewed act will affect them.Mmegi took to the bus rank to interview the public transport operators following the address last week by Ntabeni Malikongwa, deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Transport and Communications at Francistown City Council (FCC).

Malikongwa had told council that the ministry planned to review the Road Transport Act of 1973-1975.The interviews with operators revealed that while they agree with some of the suggested changes they also strongly disagree with others depending on the kind of operation they are in.

Taxi drivers said the regulations of driving times should not apply to them because they have breaks all day. Godfrey Ndlovu of Selepa route said after doing a round, drivers usually spend about 45 minutes to an hour waiting for the next load.

"We do take breaks so fatigue is not really a problem with taxis because we wait for about an hour to take the next load," said Ndlovu.

He said that the government could regulate driving hours for long distances buses but for taxis it would mean working at a loss because their cars are small and days short.

The combi drivers are also against regulation of their hours as it would mean making less money and no profit as they spend a lot of time in the rank. Tumelo Macheke who drives one of the local combis said that if their hours are regulated it would affect their salaries.

"That would mean that our employers have to hire more than one driver and this would definitely mean that our pay would go down because the profit would be the same," he added.

He said that at the moment they have fixed hours.

"At the moment we work from six in the morning to six in the evening but we spend abut two hours sitting in the rank waiting for the next load so by six in the evening the combi would have moved only about three times," he said. He said their bodies get enough rest because of sitting in their combis for a couple of hours waiting to load.

"We just sit in the combis and sometimes we even take naps waiting to load so introducing shifts here would be pointless," said Macheke.

Anderson Seaketso, who operates under the short distance category, specifically  Francistown to Chadibe-Borolong, a distance of about 20 kilometres, agrees with government that owners must shorten driving hours to reduce exhaustion.

"We get tired a lot," he said.

A combi operator Thembani Makoba said that shifts would not work. He said that the drivers have off days and leave.

"Drivers are supposed to be off every Sunday but if they do not take up these days they get paid for working on such holidays," he said.

He shared the taxi operators sentiments that the shift regulation would best apply to long distance bus drivers.The bus drivers on the other hand cried foul about the long hours that they have to drive.

" It is a problem because we need jobs but our hours are exhausting and the passengers also put pressure on us to keep driving and the owner of the bus also wants to keep his business running so no one really cares about us," said one of the drivers who plies the Francistown-Gaborone route.

The bus drivers did not want to reveal their names because they say that they are afraid of losing their jobs.
Another driver said just one drive to Gaborone takes a lot out of the drivers.

"By the time I get to Gaborone, my eyes and my shoulders are strained but in most cases I have to come back after resting for only 30 minutes when the bus loads," said another driver.

They said that they would welcome the review and regulation of the hours but are not sure how their employers would take it.

"The regulation can come but our employers can simply refuse because it is their business. The government might have to increase bus fares because if the employer hires other people our salaries are also going to suffer," he said.

Knight Chengeta of the Taxi and Bus Association said that it is going to be difficult to implement the reviewed regulation because of the current fares, which according to him are too low. He said that it would be hard to have two drivers for one taxi because the fares paid are low.

"In the long routes like Francistown-Gaborone and Maun-Francistown there is need for at least two drivers but as for the short distance buses and taxis they do not make enough money to shift the drivers. It would be too expensive unless the prices are hiked," he said.