Management of urban commuter bus services in Tanzanian cities: a case of Dar es Salaam city

This study is on “Management of Urban Commuter Bus services in Tanzanian Cities: A Case of Dar es Salaam City”. The study’s main objective was to examine the relationship between the institutions engaged in the management of commuter buses in the city of Dar es Salaam. Specific objectives were; to explore the effectiveness of SUMATRA as the organization that regulates the management of commuter buses, to assess the relationship between SUMATRA and Traffic Police Officers as law enforcers, and to examine the relationship between state actors, SUMATRA and Traffic Police Officers, and DARCOBOA (which is a non-state actor). The central question was how does the relationship between institutions involved in the management of commuter bus transport affect the process of managing commuter bus transport. The study was informed by the trust theory of law enforcement. The core assumption was that; effective management of commuter bus transport requires closer alignment between the functions of institutions involved in managing commuter bus transport as well as trust and cooperation among them. The study involved 120 respondents including 80 Traffic Police Officers, 10 DARCOBOA members, five DARCOBOA leaders, 10 SUMATRA officials, and 15 commuter bus operators. Data was collected through interviews with SUMATRA officials, DARCOBOA leaders and members, bus operators, and five senior officers of the Traffic Unit of the Tanzania Police Force and through a questionnaire with all the 80 Traffic Police Officers. The findings of the study revealed that efforts by SUMATRA to achieve effective management of commuter buses, including working closely with different stakeholders, have been in place, but SUMATRA still has many weaknesses that constrain the effective management of commuter buses. The unit that is charged with regulating commuter buses in Dar es Salaam, the Eastern zone, is treated as marginal in the organizational structure of SUMATRA. It is under-resourced in terms of human, financial and physical resources, and the SUMATRA Act has not been dynamic enough to take care of the changes that have occurred in the commuter bus sub-sector in the city of Dar es Salaam. There are some cooperative mechanisms between SUMATRA and traffic Police Officers in carrying out their responsibilities that appear to be crosscutting to ensure that commuter buses are managed effectively in the city of Dar es Salaam. However, the existing forms of cooperation have not been codified and institutionalized under the legal framework that guides their functioning. Cooperation seems to be based on the respect that each institution has for the other. The study recommends that SUMATRA should strengthen the zone that deals with commuter buses in terms of human and financial resources, and the legal framework that guides the functioning of the institutions involved in the management of commuter buses should be reviewed to make cooperation a legal requirement.