IT is criminal for any public driver to drop commuters on the road without reaching them to a bus station, Capital Buses Company Proprietor Ishmael Kankara has said.
Mr Kankara told The Scoop that it was against the law for any driver to drop passengers on the roadside without reaching them to their final destination.
He warned that drivers who are fond of dropping passengers at undesignated bust stations risked facing the wrath of the law.
“We always tell our drivers to take the passengers where they are supposed to drop from.
If they drop passengers on the road, they should be reported to the relevant authorities because that is against the law,” he said.
He was reacting to some public bus drivers who have stopped dropping passengers from the bus stations.
The Scoop has learnt that some buses were dropping passengers before they reached their destinations.
Earlier bus drivers allegedly conducted a silent protest against bus fares hike, they described as not enough following the hike in fuel pump price.
Zambia Consumers Association (ZACA) executive secretary Juba Sakala has expressed concern over an attempted protest by some bus drivers over the adjustment of bus fares.
Mr Sakala has called on affected parties to find the best solution through dialogue to avoid misunderstanding that may lead to stranded commuters.
“We as ZACA sympathise with transporters and drivers but the best solution is to dialogue with Government and other stakeholders and find a common ground.
We hope this does not generate anarchy and disorder in the transport sector because operators are claiming that the hike by K1 and K2 is small considering the situation where the cost of doing business is extremely high and they said that they would rather start working from the streets or along the roads because there are no costs for people operating out of the station,” he said.