The number of vehicles in Tanzania’s bus-based public transport system has increased from the 70 it had last year to 210, enabling the increase of the number of routes the buses ply.
In 2021, the Dar es Salaam Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project received a major boost after the government released 70 buses held at the Dar es Salaam Port since their importation in 2018. The buses had remained stranded at the port over what was described as miscommunication between the government and the Usafiri Dar es Salaam-Rapid Transit (Uda-RT).
The buses were then released by Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner, Amos Makalla who received and allowed them to kick start operations to create better capacity and reliability in commuter transport.
“This has enabled BRT to introduce four new feeder routes compared to the past when we had two. The new feeder routes are the Kibaha-Kimara, Mlonganzila-Kimara and Magufuli-Kimara, Mwenge via Morocco,”said William Gatambi, the Dar Rapid Transit Agency (Dart) Public Relations Manager.
Last year, the Government of Tanzania secured a total of Sh570.6 billion in loans from the World Bank for the construction of phases three and four of the BRT. Phase Three of the BRT project involves the construction of infrastructure projects on the 23.6-kilometre road stretching along Nyerere Road between Gongo la Mboto and the City Centre and parts of Uhuru Road from Tazara to Kariakoo Gerezani, while Phase four involves the construction of a 16.1-kilometre stretch along Bagamoyo and Sam Nujoma roads.
