Erongo taxi fares unchanged Press briefing gate-crashed by Nabta deputy The taxi union Nabta has rubbished allegations of a fare increase for the Erongo Region. The Namibia Bus and Taxi Association (Nabta) president, Vespa Muunda has dismissed allegations of taxi fare increases in Erongo region. Muunda dispelled the rumour at a media briefing held at the Nabta offices on Wednesday in Windhoek.
The briefing was however disrupted by Jeffrey Platt who gate-crashed the meeting and started hurling insults at the media and accused Muunda of organising an illegal media briefing. “Leave this guy alone, he is illegal. This operation is illegal,” yelled Platt using explicit language against Muunda.
After the disruption was quieted down, Muunda maintained that there have been no fare increases since the signing of the agreement between the Ministry of Works and Nabta in May 2014. “To make it clear to the public there has been no increment at all,” Muunda assured.
Muunda also revealed that in future, taxi and long-distance bus fares might be charged based on the distance travelled.
Muunda also informed the media about a logbook that NABTA has launched for long-distance bus operators.
According to Muunda, the log book will serve as a multipurpose referral document to record passengers'' details using long distance public transport. He said bus owners can also use the book to keep track of the business and how it operates and how much passengers are being charged per trip and how often their buses are travelling. Most importantly, Muunda said, the book can be used to identify victims of road crashes.
MICHAEL KAYUNDE