WINDHOEK - The City of Windhoek generates anywhere from N$40 000 to more than N$45 000 per day from its bus services which translates into monthly revenue of between N$886 400 to over N$1 million. This revenue is generated from 74 busses operated by the City of Windhoek where the average price of a bus ticket is N$7.
However, upon enquiry, CoW Corporate Communication Officer Lydia Amutenya confirmed that despite regulations in place, it is often difficult to verify the amount of money collected on the buses. This sentiment was echoed by CoW insiders who have alleged serious irregularities regarding the collection of cash on city buses.
“The City has revenue collection and control mechanisms such as ticketing systems in place but we also collect and/or accept cash payments on buses which makes it difficult to control where cash is involved,” said Amutenya.
Based on figures from the 2018/19 financial year, the N$10.5 million revenue generated from the City’s bus service emanated from approximately 1.5 million passengers per year which were calculated from 126 100 per month or 5 732 daily passengers. However, figures also from the 2018/19 financial year indicate that the annual cost of maintaining the buses were approximately N$8.6 million, leaving less than N$2 million annually to service additional obligations such as drivers remuneration and fuel costs.
While Amutenya added that the city’s bus service does offer a pre-loaded system, cash payments are also accepted which is where the lack of control measures come into play.
“The City is guided by its internal financial policy on revenue handling, with an assistance of a wayfarer system to assist the duly authorised personnel to reconcile accurately what was collected,” Amutenya explained when asked what measures are utilised to correlate the number of passengers with revenue collected.
About two years ago, the CoW introduced 14 new routes as part of its Move Windhoek bus service which also saw a commitment by the City to provide bus services throughout the day. When introducing the new routes, officials from the City’s Public Transport department noted that, a number of buses have been installed with tracking systems to calculate and track the lengths of each bus route.