Vaya has accelerated the introduction of
its new services Vaya Carpool and Vaya Shuttle in a bid to help alleviate the
fuel crisis in Zimbabwe.
Mrs Dorothy Zimuto, the CEO of the Vaya
businesses at Cassava Smartech, said the two Vaya services will help reduce the
number of cars on the roads by making it easier for people to share vehicles.
Vaya Carpool is a car-sharing service that
will cost half the price of a normal Vaya Premium service. Its computer is able
to identify up to two other passengers within a 500-meter radius. It does not
allow more than three adults per car. Cars can be scheduled through company
accounts, making it easier for businesses to pay for their senior staff.
Mrs Zimuto said the Vaya Corporate Shuttle
is aimed at general company staff.
“The minibusses and kombis used in the Vaya Shuttle service have been carefully selected for roadworthiness and will have on-board Wi-Fi,” she said. To ensure drivers are polite to passengers and drive carefully, she said Vaya would have a rating system and bad behavior will lead to the driver being suspended from the platform.
It has been proven around the world that
services like Vaya Carpool and Vaya Shuttle service can encourage people to
leave their own cars at home and use them only for weekends. With more people
sharing vehicles, the impact will be huge for Zimbabwe as it will reduce fuel
consumption and save foreign currency.
Another service set to reduce fuel costs
and reduce cars on the roads is the planned launch of Vaya School Shuttle,
which Cassava recently announced that it was already being piloted to pick and
drop the children of the Econet group’s staff members.
“It is clear that a lot of cars we see on
the roads are ferrying children to school. If we can have the kids picked up by
a shuttle service and brought back safely, more cars will be parked at home.
This is what Vaya is trying to achieve,” said Mrs Zimuto.
“It is not hard to see that parents can
travel to work on either Vaya Carpool or Shuttle, while children are taken
directly to school by Vaya School Shuttle. There will be fewer cars on the
roads during the term. The benefits to the economy are a reduction in cars on
the roads and that means less fuel used, and less foreign currency spent on
importing fuel. It is great for the economy,” Mrs Zimuto said.
Meanwhile, Vaya senior management has been
engaging fuel suppliers to try and get priority access for active Vaya drivers.
There are now more than registered 20 000 Vaya vehicles on the roads in
Zimbabwe.
