200805131274 | UTODA to phase out 14 seater taxis for 28 seaters

UTODA to phase out 14 seater taxis for 28 seaters

THE Uganda Taxi Operators and Drivers’ Association (UTODA) has started replacing 14-seater taxis with 28-seater omnibuses, its national chairman has said.
John Ndyomugyenyi said the move was aimed at easing traffic flow, especially in Kampala city and reducing accidents.
He was passing out 50 taxi drivers who had undergone training in first aid at the Red Cross hall on Lubaga road in Mengo on Tuesday.

Experts from Mulago hospital, Uganda Red Cross and the University of California have trained 150 city taxi drivers.

The trainees were given first aid kits that included bandages, gauze, blood clotting tablets, reflective armbands and bags for the kits.

“We are encouraging people to buy ‘coasters’ (omnibuses), which carry 28 passengers and above. We are slowly replacing taxis,” he stated without giving the time within which the small taxis would be abolished.

About 200 ‘coasters’ are operating mainly on the Masaka, Kayunga and Jinja routes from Kampala. There are over 20,000 taxis countrywide, Ndyomugyenyi added.
But few taxi drivers qualify to drive ‘coasters’.