Matatu Owners Association Coast regional Coordinator Salim Mbarack Salim at a past event. [Photo/ the-star.co.ke]
Matatu Owners Association Coast region chapter has appealed to the National Transport and Safety Authority (NTSA) to lift the night travel ban.The Association said the ban was equivalent to punishing innocent passengers and especially students who were reporting to form one in various schools.The Association’s Coast region coordinator Salim Mbarack Salim said most of the long-distance drivers and public transport owners have complied with the traffic rules and regulations and should be allowed to operate.Speaking in Mombasa on Wednesday, Mbarack said it was quite disturbing for NTSA to issue such a blanket ban without considering the business repercussions in public transport companies countrywide.He appealed to NTSA to reconsider the move, meet with stakeholders and lift the ban so that transportation can return to normalcy.“Most of these buses complied with the night travel traffic rule and they have employed two or more drivers per one vehicle whether at night or during the day and issuing such a blanket ban is only killing the transport sector,” said Mbarack.Mbarack said that only those vehicles which were allocated temporary long distance licenses during the festive season should be vetted or removed from the roads and not all buses and other vehicles operating at night.“In fact it is the NTSA that issued temporary licenses to vehicles without proper inspection leading to many deaths on the roads, it should move fast and revoke the licenses, inspect the vehicles and vet the drivers,” said Mbarack.He appealed to NTSA to work together with other stakeholders in the country to ensure sanity returns to the roads. Is there a newsworthy accident, incident or event happening in Mombasa County that you want Hivisasa to cover? Tell us what is happening by joining this group and have it published. http://bit.ly/2BipYa6