PRIME Minister of Tanzania Kassim Majaliwa has inspected the Dar Rapid Transit (DART) operations in the city

He said the deficits will be corrected while the project is in progress. The premier who paid his fare while boarding DART bus No. 23 with Registration Number T125DGW, which started its trip from the Kivukoni terminal, said that he used 50 minutes to reach Kimara which is the last destination.



Mr Majaliwa boarded the bus at 09:30am and it started its journey at 09.33am after other passengers came on board. On average it took between two and three minutes from one station to another during the trip.
The bus reached the final destination at 10.23am. Speaking to journalists at Kimara Mwisho Bus Station after ending the short inspection trip yesterday, the PM said he decided to take an abrupt ride to observe the operations and services of the BRT and to see for himself that passengers understood well how to use the services.
He said that he was satisfied with the way the project was operating, but was told that passengers were disturbed in the way as the gatekeepers were handling them when verifying the tickets, especially at rush hours in the morning.
He also learned that there were some passengers who were attempting to use expired tickets issued a day before, which was causing a lot of inconvenience to the BRT staff because the tickets cannot be read by the ticketing system.
“I am satisfied with the time and speed of travelling on BRT buses, as it took me 50 minutes to reach this destination (Kimara), though, I think there are some areas that need exclusive traffic lights or special sensors to control the vehicles while the buses are cruising to avert accidents,” he said.
He mentioned the areas that require special sensors as the intersection of Morogoro Road and Samora Avenue, Morogoro Road and Jamhuri Avenue and the intersection of Morogoro and Kisutu.
The premier called upon Tanzanians to produce valid tickets instead of using the expired ones which was an offence, since those who carry such tickets are doing it deliberately.
“Such people will face legal action. I instruct that whoever turns up with an invalid ticket should be arrested and sent to police because he is doing that intentionally, said the PM when talking to one of the bus attendants at Kimara Mwisho.
“I advise those using this transport to learn how to follow the procedures and insist that every passenger should possess an official ticket.” He added that: “I have come to establish that the buses are working smoothly.
I also urge public servants to use the buses so as to reduce traffic jams on our roads.” In order to address some of the challenges, the premier said that the government will oversee the improvement of ticketing to bring convenience to passengers. He also warned motorists including motorcycles to stop using the BRT infrastructure.
Also he called upon the police patrol at night to make sure that people do not take shelter in the areas where the flyover are earmarked for construction, since they pose a threat to the safety of those using such roads.
“These are not shelters. Whoever is occupying them is a threat to users of these roads. Therefore, if the police find them they should arrest them immediately,” said Mr Majaliwa.
For his part the Head of Traffic Division, Assistant Commissioner, Mohammed Mpinga who accompanied the PM in that tour, said that he had already banned motorists including motorbikes to use the BRT facility and even the government vehicles are banned from driving on BRT roads.
“We had banned all types of vehicles and motorbikes to use the roads even if such they are government