Mozambique: Over 4,000 "Chapas" Will Have Electronic Ticketing

24 August 2022
Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique (Maputo)

Maputo — Just over 4,000 minibuses, colloquially known as chapas, have been identified for the installation of electronic ticketing in the Greater Maputo Metropolitan Region.

This is part of an effort by the government to introduce a passenger subsidy to alleviate the cost of living after the entry into force of increases in the "chapa" fares.

This scheme depends on issuing passengers with electronic cards, known as "Famba" cards. The passengers will use the cards to buy tickets, and the subsidy will be paid onto the cards rather than in cash. But when the scheme was tried out on buses earlier this year, it was widely regarded as a failure.

Cited in Wednesday's issue of the Maputo daily "Notícias", the technical administrator of the Metropolitan Transportation Agency (AMT), Armando Bembele, pointed out that the equipment is in the process of being imported.

Devices to read the Famba cards will be installed in the buses and the chapas, and the AMT is considering hand-held devices which will allow a fare collector to check the cards.

Bembele said that the damaged Famba devices in the buses are being repaired. "Of the 300 electronic ticketing systems already installed, 160 are in good working order," he claimed.

The Government's plan to subsidize passenger transport through "Famba" was announced last month, after a boycott by chapa owners in protest at the latest increase in fuel prices. At the time, the operators suggested direct fuel subsidies or a higher increase in chapa fares. But the government has opted instead for the pre-paid Famba cards, an idea that seems to have the support of the World Bank.

The passengers are less than enthusiastic about the scheme. According to Armando Bembele, so far, only 2,014 people have registered to obtain the card, out of the 500,000 expected.

"Unfortunately, the registration to obtain the Famba card is going very slowly. We advise everyone, including those who have lost their documents, to approach the booths scattered throughout the Greater Maputo Metropolitan Region", Bembele said.

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