The Metropolitan Transportation Agency (AMT) adopted a single fare for public and private companies providing passenger transportation services in January of this year. The practice of subsidized fares still continues, but with the arrival of the 80 gas-powered buses this will end.

For the users, this measure takes away the benefits they had by taking the buses of the municipal companies. Travel fares on these public buses are slightly lower than on private buses. The elderly and combatants also have benefits.

However, the AMT said that with the arrival and commissioning of the 80 newly imported buses that approval should be met. In other words, the bonuses should end.

The measure will also apply to buses already in circulation that are still charging differentiated prices.

This displeases users, who, even with a shortage of public transportation at stops, would rather wait to pay less.

"I've always been proud of public transportation for knowing that it defends social issues, but with this standardization I feel that they will be failing to fulfill their responsibility", pointed out Zilda José, a resident of Matola, interviewed by the newspaper "Notícias".

For the user, even with the existence of benefits for disadvantaged people in this standardization, the scenario has changed, since all users now pay the same amount.

The administrator of Empresa de Transportes da Matola (ETM), Zacarias Chissico, and the spokesman for Empresa Municipal de Transportes de Maputo (EMTPM), Adelino Bucuane, explained that the companies do not decide on the fares they apply, this being the responsibility of the Metropolitan Transport Agency (AMT).