Bujumbura: the price of the bus ticket has tripled in north of the town hall

Transporters continue to speculate on transport ticket prices on the northern section of the economic capital Bujumbura.
Normally, the price of the transport ticket on the Kamenge-city center section is 650 Burundian francs. But since Burundi has experienced a severe fuel crisis, transporters have adopted strategies to circumvent the price set by the government. To get to the city center, passengers pay 1,800 francs. INFO SOS Médias Burundi

It is difficult to find a bus that connects Kamenge directly to the city center.

Passengers are forced to make three stopovers.

“At first the bus leaves the Gare du Nord to stop at the place called COTEBU. The passengers get off the bus and pay 600 francs. They wait for another bus which, this time will arrive at the another stop called Permenance, and there again passengers pay and get off.

Finally they board another bus which this time will arrive in the city center. It’s 1,800 francs for a trip that normally cost 600 francs,” complains a passenger met at Permenance on the Chaussée Peuple Murundi.

According to another customer who was a victim of the practice, it is the transporters who speculate on the price of the ticket since the government prohibited the increase in the price of the transport ticket despite the fuel shortage.

“The conveyors tell customers that they are not going to town. They turn around to pretend to return to Kamenge when in reality they come back to pick up the same passengers they left in this parking lot,” he indicated.

This strategy was implemented when customers began to denounce the payment of 1,000 Burundian francs to make the same trip on a public transport bus.

Passengers deplore that the administrative and police authorities let this happen even though they have the prerogative to enforce official prices.
https://www.sosmediasburundi.org/2024/06/25/bujumbura-les-autorites-burundaises-narrivent-pas-a-donner-du-carburant-aux-automobilistes-mais-saisisent-les-bus/

Difficult to impose official prices on owners and drivers of public transport buses and taxis who cannot find fuel in the small East African nation, the economic capital Bujumbura. The central administration is the most affected, with the city of Uvira in the province of South Kivu in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo which is its only rampart.