THE Passengers Association of Zimbabwe (PAZ) has urged citizens to report any incidents of overcharging by commuter omnibus operators in a bid to weed out errant business practices.

The call comes after an outcry by commuters who are being asked to pay as much as US$1 for local trips contrary to the gazetted transport fares which, in most cases, are way cheaper.

Following the withdrawal of commuter omnibus operators from ZUPCO, new associations have emerged as an alternative to enforce discipline and standard operating procedures in the public transport arena.

However, despite setting stipulated fares under the new associations, commuter omnibus operators continue to charge more, often taking advantage of the weak enforcement mechanisms by the associations, resulting in the commuting public to lose more of their hard-earned money.

But speaking to NewZimbabwe.com Thursday, president at PAZ, Tafadzwa Goliati urged citizens to urgently report any such incidents to the associations.

"Yes. We have received numerous reports on such errant behaviour and we have engaged the associations which have in turn responded by placing stickers with the respective operators' fleet number as well as their contact details.

"Our follow up shows that the associations have initiated disciplinary measures against all operators who have been proven to have overcharged commuters. We are therefore calling upon the commuting public to take advantage of such details and reach out to PAZ or the associations with full details of commuter omnibuses violating the gazette fares," he said.

Goliati also urged transport operators not to take advantage of the reprieve granted by the government and called on them to instead exercise national duty.

"Such errant conduct is uncalled for and contradicts the liberalisation of the public transport sector being an initiative which was aimed at improving the ease of commuting for the public. As such we call upon transport operators not to rip off citizens," added Goliati.