The take off was effected following the ground work by Germany company Strabag International GmbH of rebuilding some of the city roads under the Package 1 contract that was divided in two lots.
Lot One consisted of rehabilitation and extension of the road from Magomeni to Kimara including 15 bus stations, the Kimara Terminal and the Ubungo Terminal.
Lot Two comprised the route from Magomeni to Kivukoni as well as the Kawawa Road from Magomeni to Morocco and the Msimbazi Road from Fire to Kariakoo, including 14 bus stations and the Morocco Terminal as well as the widening of the Msimbazi Bridge.
Thanks, the eur134.4m work to rehabilitate and extend the Bus Rapid Transit Infrastructure (BRT) = a surface metro system that uses bus tech to provide metro-like services) in Tanzania’s commercial capital, has been done.
However, in this project, new dynamics - positive and negative - as far as city transport is concerned have been brought to play.
As for the positives, the project engineer deserves kudos in that some owners of private cars park their vehicles at home, while others have discovered a temporary parking lot at Kimara Mwisho, since it is more costly to go over all the way to the city centre.
Associated with this is that UDART ride is much more comfortable, time saving and penny cutback if you are wise to use given ticket.
The negatives are many. One, still there exists some unfinished pockets as far as construction is concerned. These include bus stations, road pavements, road lights and even sewerage system.
Also not completed is the ticket issuing system, which at times compels the riders to stand in long queues that often interfere with the use of other avenues. This sometimes jeopardises their lives.
The high-elevated overpasses used by passers -bys are a headache in two ways. Not only that they dissuade the bus riders, but their biggest problem is that they cannot be easily used by people with disabilities and the sick.
New problems have cropped up in some stations. At Kimara, for example, both UDART buses and daladala end at the terminal. This is a serious headache to people who proceed to Mbezi Mwisho and beyond.
The idea that daladala buses from around the terminal would collect commuters to and from the area to the vicinity is proving to be difficult to implement in the absence of a place prepared for commuters who go beyond this point to board and disembark from daladalas.
The use of this point will only be meaningful if Phase Two of BRT, which connects this area to Mbezi Mwisho and beyond, is implemented.
The BRT project will be much more meaningful if and only if work to build a wider link to the city’s suburbs and the centre is implemented. This means that areas such as Mbagala, Gongo la Mboto, Bunju and Kibaha need also to be linked with the metro bus system.
Short of this, city commuters will continue to experience the old days transport problems they were used to, and in some cases, these might even be worse.
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