The Ministry of Communication and Transport has announced the abolition of regulation 14A of statutory instrument no 115 of 2000, which compels public service vehicles operators to paint their vehicles in sky blue colour.
The statutory instrument no 31 of 2011, which will come into effect 30 days after the date of publication in the gazette, will now allow operators to paint their vehicles in any color of their choice.
Communication and Transport minister Professor Godfrey Lungwangwa says the removal of the colour code for Public Service Vehicles will directly reduce the compliance costs of entry into the business by all PSV operators.
Professor Lungwangwa told a media briefing in Lusaka this morning that the move is a response to bus operators and advertising firms request to government to reconsider the colour code so as to exploit the business opportunity of utilizing PSVs as channels of effective information dissemination.
He says it is anticipated that the retraction of the regulation will increase investment in advertising and commercial business.
back to step one.
Who cares about colour! The most important thing Government should be looking at is the road-worthness of the PSVs.
I guess our minibuses will be looking like the matatus one sees in Kenya.
The blue colour though at first condemed, at Least Nkandu Luo scored a spectacula GOAL. It brought identity to the buses. Now it’s a pandora box opened, how will the police curb abuse in the night when these buses are used beyond operating hours? At least with the Blue Colour, it was easy to recognise the bus. How sad.
Good one but with the road canage and anarchy on our roads. Hope the adverts will make sense. Too bad for my old grand mother who only boards blue Taxis which she believes are safe.
They’ll be chaos on the road!! How do the honda chaps identify them for picking passengers outside bus stops/stations?
Ok, it is advertising. Ok. I’m writing over my ten buses “Mpangula for President 2011” “Vote Mpangula”. ” Dont trust NyamaSoya in 2011″ Thank u MMD for providing a moving bill board for me. Thank you very much.
This is direct a Campaign move in a bid to capture the bus operators. This will be detrimental to the uniformity and safety of buses especially on local and long distances a move which will dearly reduce the sanity in the industry. The other thing are the Uniforms which are worn by the bus drivers which police have failed to control does it mean that they have also scrapped them!
The bus owners will be able to make more money through adverts. This is good for them
I guess to avoid costs associted with repainting, most of them will retain the current colour of their buses
Besides buses painted blue and white looked like they were owned by MMD
Progressive idea
Everyone is looking for legacy. Even udoing what your friend has done is legacy! What the f……!
i like your comment.
So pirate taxis can now afford the red number plates. The sky blue colour was a deterrent.
you mean you cant advertise on a white and blue colour. this is common sense being abandoned by people masquerading as leaders but lack the very essence of what leadership really is. these minibuses will soon be used for all sorts of crimes and mark my words-someone will reverse this. thats my personal opnion and though iam cogninant of the fact that there is a positive and negative part to this, the negative far outweigh the positive
We also must look at the type of the advertising media that are in place. Does it mean that for example in Isoka a bus will be advertised with the businesses houses in that part of the district. How have this industry developed to be driving quality advertisements. We should first try this in urban towns before we move on to rural areas otherwise we will start seeing names of people on buses to show where they come from.
Back to the stone age, So what how does this help anyone? running out of ideas Ka?
The good part of this is that some buses when they are imported they come with nice colours and when they are painted they lose it. All in all the idea is also good in that some of these vehicles needs to be painted in set colours.
But the advertisements can still be done on busez/taxiz still painted blue.
some of you characters must have brains the size of a croc’s. all PSVs are identified by their red number plates, why should you go bothering about what colour the bus or taxi is? educate your grandmother or father (who cares) to look out for that feature you damn heads. before you learn to shout ensure you have enough muscle, look before you leap….
No. 2 – Napsa Sana – I agree entirely that it is the safety of the PSVs and PSV drivers we should pay attention to! I really don’t understand this flip-flop.
Ok…. to be honest I actually kinda liked all the colours and advertising on the old mini-buses (till they had to be painted MMD blue). I thought it added some kind of ‘character’ to the city…. but also think what No. 4 says is spot on about curbing abuse from non-marked vehicles! Presumably that was the reason before (…or was it just the MMD blue?), so should still be valid now.
Maybe next they will introduce green again… or would that only be if PF wins?
And No.17 despite your shouting at us about red number plates, the vehicle’s colour is a lot easier to spot… especially at night!
Well adverts towards elections that will be good. Only hope we won’t have grafity seen some nasty pictures on buses or taxis as they call them in some countries. Will have pa Bwato, Nkoloko adverts etc. But will these be controlled by Zambia Institute of Marketing etc. More money from adverts yes for those with contacts. . .
Buti kwena, i see the old mode of transportation returning to Zambia. We might as well ask for the bedford and UBZ Tata buses to be brought back. Secondly there must be intelligent reasons for taking citizens a step back and not the advertising mentioned here! There was a lot of harrasing when the blue was introduced and now we are ok with it! Anyway umwaka waku vota fingi filetwa!!
#17, Who would give a damn checking what color the damn plate number is? Can your damn 88year old grand mother look at such crap detail from 100meters?. Atleast she wud see blue and know that that were public transport coming. Think before u yap!
Number 17 get real maybe for cars red plates can easily be seen. But with mini buses some have bull bars making it a night mare to see the number. Mind u we once had Green en white PSV on our roads and orange and black UBZ ordinary na White wit blue strips for UBZ coach or luxury.
#17, u must have a brain the size of a roach!
This is good because bus operators can now diversify their income. This can then result in cheaper rates for passengers.Having advertisements on buses provides bus operators with alternative sources of income. I am most certain companies like Unilever, Airtel and MTN will be paying top dollar to advertise on these buses.
What this essentially means is becoming a public transport operator will no longer be “a business to get you by” but a lucrative business for those who will be working smart. Those who are willing to work smart will even move a step further and have advertisements even inside the bus.
As for those complaining about identification, well that is essentially the difference between those people who will be working smart and those that wont. You don’t need govt to tell you that you need some form of easier identification if you are a public transport operator. Socialist days are long gone. If you are smart, you’ll maintain the blue and white color and find some form of integrating ads with it.
People are already used with the blue color and if you are a public transport operator, it’ll be silly to change it. Let us learn to use our brains and not complaining all the time.
ok, so my car can now pirate freely
So manje buju azavutikilamo! Twist of the Tom & Jerry story! Jerry can now put on any color coat so that Thomas wont easily identify him from a distance… hahaha
Wow… i will tell my folks to paint all their busses with “donchi kubeba”.lol
LT Howz about you also changing the colour of your website. Its reminds me of MMD! This is a good move as every one will try and make a quick buck, what with MTN, Airtel, and Trade Kings, the ad kings. They will be easily recognised by the RED number plate to be PSV. How do the inter city buses operate, if you have noticed!
Hope we wont see political adverts, I thought the blue colour was go for sanity, identification, anywhere lets wait and see
Pa Bwatooooooo
“Going round in circles”
What a lame excuse! I see a lot of MTN adverts on top of these blue buses and still mamintain the neat look.
# 25 the change in color opens the door for illegal bus and taxi operators. The government will loose alot of money because it will be difficult for the police to identify who is who. If i have a bus right now and am just hanging out with the boys and i see a group of potential passengers at a bus stop, what will stop me from picking them up and making a quick kwacha? Dont just blindly support whatever your useless government does. What they should have done is maintain the colors for PSV but allow space upto 50% of the bus from the center to the back for advertising and the rest of the bus remains the same.
I agree with you. Being a bus operator myself I think the Govt hasn’t thought this thru. The colours help with identifying the buses & I think they look smart as well.
Thanks a lot Mr. Minister. It will indeed reduce operating costs. Hopefully other silly requirement will be abolished as well. The cost of running mini buses is too high especially is you look at the attitude of the traffic police who seem to always want a catch from the drivers. Please drivers, don’t abuse this noble gesture by painting unprintable on buses.
Ok…now all buses will display Don’t kubeba
The emphasis should be safety of the vehicles not that reason of adverts,you still can advertise on blue & white.Now there will be kafwafwa
there is nothing new about this coz it is not the first time that colour of pubic transport has been scrapped. those who were old enough will remember at one time buses and taxes were painted in green and white.
as someone who has a fleet of buses, I was confortable with the old system coz it gave a sense of security to the owner but then again it is a reduction in cost.
The concern should be about the road worthiness of these minibuses not the color.
MMD wants to start putting adverts on these buses, more so to win support to bus operators who seem to belong to the PF. They will start using public resources to put their campaign adverts at the expense of developments.
God come and save us from these Lucifers
Hmm, I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, all this advertising is just excessive; people are constantly being bombarded with messages to buy things, and that only seems to create feelings of inadequacy and materialism. On the other hand, the drivers don’t make a lot of money and are always having to pay off the police, so the extra income is nice. Why not restrict the amount of space that can be used to advertise? Anyway, I doubt the drivers will be pacified by this; they know whose police force is unjustly taking their money away in bribes and foolish fines without making the roads any safer. MMD, don’t think you can buy the drivers’ votes so easily! Also, I do like the blue and white, because you can spot them from a distance.
A more progressive idea would have been to ban all mini-buses with less than 36 seater capacity from operating and only allow bigger mini-buses for road safety reasons. There is also need for sanity among mini-bus drivers who are a law unto themselves and literally block the roads at will and load passengers from any point. I thought blue was a smart colour for Zambian public transport like the famous red for London public buses.
VERY GOOD!!! NOW WE CAN ADVERTISE OUR ‘DON’T KUBEBA’ SLOGAN ON OUR MIN BUSES AND TAXIS…..FOR THE WORLD TO KNOW UKUTILA NI SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, EAT BUT DON’T…………………………….!!!!!!
Remember the issue of stealing people in non painted buses in the past?So what will GRZ achieve by removing that?The current colour for public service is ok and I don’t see the panic of scrapping off the PSV sky blue colour, could it be a campaign stategy, so that MMD can advertise on all the buses.It does not make any sense to me at all!Hope it will not work to the disadvantage of the zambian citizens and other people that use Public Service Vehicles.
I foresee confusion because there will be buses of different colours operating which will also attract the interest of those that have not registered their vehicles to public service to start pirating because it is rare that people check to see if the number plate is red or black before they board.
Why a professor of all the people to bring about that negative change. This is not in the interest of public safety. You are now promoting lawlessiness. Remember how Willie Nsanda fought hard when he was at UTTA. He didnt want Nkandu Lou to bring in uniformity in the public sevirce transport system because it didnt favour the Kabovas. Now that the pandoras box is opened will be seeing racing on our potholed roads. Wake up prof
@ #34 Kaponyas!!!
They’ll always be people who’ll do illegal things but we should not let that stifle progress. Some people have stated that PSV have got red number plates so that is one of the measures that could curb illegal activities. Unless you’re a business owner, you’ll not know the importance of diversifying your business. It is important to diversify your sources of income if you are a business owner.
If govt allows for only 50% of ad space, that means the other 50% is essentially wasted. There is an opportunity cost there because the operator is missing out on a 50% chance to earn more income. This is a good move because it gives bus operators more options.
Dull move, bloody illiterates!!! Colour code for easy identification and other! u can still advertise on a blue bus or taxi!! The level of dullness in this country is what is bring us back!!!
we r watching u mmd migots
Choncholi@46
I think the one who introduced this (professor Nkandu Luo) was a genuine professor than (Professor Godfrey Lungwangwa) himself.
The only reason they want to change is to pave way for MMD to advertise on most of the buses because they have our money which they will abuse to the extent of paying bus owners well so that they prefer an MMD advert to that of any other political party which may not be in position to pay the owners that much.
Our Government really does not know whether it is going backwards or forward. What a tragedy!! Haven’t we been along this way before, mwe bantu? Epo mpelele!!
#42 Lusaka Lusaka
Iam with you.It will be nice to ban Hiaces and other mini-buses cos they litter and congest the roads.These small buses need regulation big time.
size is not everything, it’s how you use it, remember that
MMD wants to advertise on buses for elections.Things will change this year even if you try to leave a legacy of removing blue.
# 50 pliz know that all the profesors we have Zambia useles including Luo. They simply have titles without discovering or inventing things. Look at Luo what she is doing nowadays, just looking for faults in the ministry of health instead of saying PIPO, I WAS IN LABORATORY for 3 years and now i have found the cure for HIV. What a country!
At least the few countries I have been to all have a common colour identifying public transport vehicles. Nigeria and Kenya have orange, Gabon has green, Morocco has yellow. It is just for identity’s sake.
Honestly, how much money can bus owners make from advertising?
You ppo are surely amazing. The question is: what was wrong with the green colour Luo replaced? What was also good about painting schools in blue and white. Lungwangwa is a liar. The truth is that the colour code was not in good faith. Not a fun of Luo too. Lastly, have you ever tried to sale a vehicle painted in those mmd colours? The price just drops.
@54 Mr Things Change
That is exactly what they want to do and people instead will not board buses with MMD adverts but instead those that bear their political party of their choice, this issue will bring kerfuffle.
Oh dear. Now you can easily be ambushed if you are riding a bus with the “wrong” party colours or adverts.
But the MMD could have b banned sachet beer called tujilinjili before starting advertising this rubbish idea. Go HH please save us in Jesus’ name. Amen
Ouch! There goes Prof Nkandu Luo’s legacy.
What of my sky blue paint business hey? I have gallons of the stuff!
THIS IS BAD NEWS, COZ IT WILL BE DIFFICULT TO CONTROL BUS OPERATORS. WILL BE SEEING PIPO PIRATING AS LATES AS MIDNIGHT COZ IT WILL BE DIFFICULT TO TRACK DOWN. THIS GVT IS REALLY CONFUSED…..WHY CHANGE THEN GET BACK TO THE SAME THIN….DULLNESS NO WONDER THE CONSTITUTION FAILED.
This scraps out Professor Nkandu luo’s only contribution to the transport sector. Good move!
I was thinking probably talking safety and expansion of road network could make that difference? Laws are Laws and should be followed without question. This is sanitary and decent!
This is gud. MMD cadres thought they own these buses. Now remove blue wearing cadres from stations to bring sanity in our country. Sad that they have done away with Levy and Nkandu’s legacy.
what the hell is donchi kubeba??
This Govt is crazy, painting buses blue bought sanity to the public transportation system….
And those who think that this will bring significant revenue to the drivers must be dreaming…..
do the know the basics of economics?? All of a sudden, there will be thousands of pottential advertizing spaces, and which busines would spend alot of money to advertise??? Lusaka is already filled with adverts….wtf…..
Ba professor Lungwangwa mwa faula.This is inviting disorder,like shanty compounds do.So its true one does not have to be a profesor to make good decisions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This reasoning was used to change from green color to any color… Ease of identification was used to justify changing from any color to ‘Luo Blue’. Now we are back with the initial reasoning… Am I the only one who sees shallowness in this repetive ignoramous thinking
#63 Party for Fools (PF)
Very funny dude!!
Why do u have 2 undo good things just for the sake doing something. I’ve always doubted this Lungwangwa chap. proffersorship uko…He’s dull. The pirate must be having a gas
All buses will have a head of RB. William banda will put heads of rb to every bus. Willie runs stations. Africa awe mwe
Excellent!! No more MMD colors. Unfortunately we hear Lungwangwa fired next week by RB, he will think Lungwangwa is frastrated for not nominated to NCC. Lungwangwa is PF (Zambia) supporter…
This is madness at its best, instead of thinking progresivly, the minster was thinking backwards. common sense has it that the color is a perfect identifying mark, especialy with the increase in number of used Japannese cars coming in the country. they could hav left some indentifying feature and leave room for the so called advertising (whoever will be advertising on these taxis) – just like other countries do, not this non sense. The money which will (allegedly) be saved from not painting taxis is not worthy risking public safety.
Listening to a variety of views expressed by a cross section of our society, many feel there is no need for such a move. How will ordinary citizens identify taxies from pirated cabs. What is behind this move?
Please note that all PSV vehicles have a red Number plate and a fleet number LSK9999 or KTK9999 with the exception of trucks. For all those that have never been in this business it is very painful for you to repaint a bus that comes in a nice color to MMD blue. The reasons given by proff Luo that time was not convicing at all. The idea was to “raise funds for campaign” that time because there were only selected suppliers of that paint. I think the motive now is to win a few votes from the Bus operators but i can assure you them that it is too late the Bus Operators will now be upset. It the new comers in the business and those increasing the size of the fleet that will be happy. The majority will not benefit. We need change this year!!! Please not that i am none partisan
For a change, somethinggood has happened. After officially resigning from MMD, they have now scrapped off the color that looks like MMD color. Once more thank you to allow the incoming PF party to paint the buses with pabwato. Pabwato chabe.
What a weird decision!How can you have public transported in all sorts of colors.
Do our leaders really have ideas in their heads? Instead of concentrating on issues of road safety, which is very poor in our country, Government is preoccupied with things that go no further in improving quality of public transport in our country.
We must be careful never to destroy old bridges.The idea was good but it was imbed with challnges and these are now being dealt with.
Public transport should have identity other wise we shakll be like in Nigewria where we may start recording lives.Truck LODA OF PAASENGER has vanished and there where about unknown heheheheh.
Let us be visionaries seeing things where ahead.This is adrwa back.they should leave something to protect international travailers and indeed locals too.It is insucurity do ing away with identity of public transport.
May God opne our understanding in Jesus name we ask .
Bwesheni na bondix kanshi !!!!!!!!!!!!!
deleted after 5 complaints
#6 you embarrass us. PSVs have red plates DUMMY!
Nangu nikutinvesa nsoni uku; wenze kufuna chabe ati ukambepo; uleteka-akanya.
chimutu
we are back 20 years, we are using the old constitution now the buses, i think its time for them to go
Desparation ka? Things people will do for vote! Even stop thinking all together. Shame!:-?:
This is the reason why Zambia can not develop coz rules and regulations are altered the moment the one who was behind it goes…
Thats rabish how do yu remove the colours which easily identified our PSV’s.yu its bullshit and its shit.very soon they will say lets paint them green and white the kaunda colour for PSVs’.NONSENSE.
hey !!!!, I hope traffic officers like Ratsa and police will manager sorting out the mess with the bus drivers that has ever existed… this will be reall changanya
It will be pure comdey mudala. I cant imgine the chaos this would cause
This is pure horsesh**t.
Crime levels and lawlessness on the roads will rise to dangerous levels. Any one will now be able to get their wreck to operate as a taxi or minibus. To tell you this MMD government is a bunch of w**k*rs. They irritate me. They have no direction. They are selfish. They are devils. They are killers. They are dunderheads. They are uncivillised. They are dull. They are just crap. How I wish the ARVs they are taking could fail them so that they pack their backs and go 6 feet down. What kind of people are these. Look at you. You disgust me.
Ba Lungwangwa what kind of a professor are you? You have reduced yourself to Hyena dung. How can you support such an idea. Advertising can still go while maintaing the blue colour. All your 15 years or so of scholary work have gone to waste. You are just as good as William Banda, no difference.
Number 75, experts in this business even in developed countries where there is sanity haave a colour code for all transport vehicles in order to protect the public. The fleet numbers alone are not enough. Its an issue of clear identification, ease of enforcing compliance of transport regulations and public safety.
Who gave this id- iot professorship or is it male chauvinism trying to show fellow professor luo that her ideas dont count. its high time zambians got rid of these so called backstreet professors or this how zambian politcs erode people’s brains??????????
Lets move forward as a country, not backwards. Having a uniform colour for all PSV in a good thing as it brings about order,easy identification, safety, the list is endless. Most of the times, the sky is light blue, so if some of you can support the removal of this colour because thats an MMD colour, I dont see the logic. Lets seperate developmental issues from politics. Its time we started debating and addressing real issues e.g poverty. The colour is fine. Our leadersss, spend your time on real issues affecting people.
Who has been complaining about painting PSV sky blue.We operate PSV, i have never come across anyone complaining about painting sky blue.Let us not change good laws which brings order to suit an individual.Very soon you will be seen black…. PSV.Concentrate on building bus stations where passengers can shelter during rain season instead of undoing good laws.
Cool it down back tracked already. Poor Professor!
What’s wrong with this people, the sky blue colour has given Zambian public transport and Identity and a mention in the tour guides. If you go to any city in Europe you’ll find colour codes for PSVs. What’s wrong with advertising on the sky blue colour? London black cabs and red buses sell advertising space, US yellow cabs advertise so why can’t we?
No. 4 you’re wrong, Nkandu Luo did not score a first. Public Service Vehicles were already GREEN (UNIP Colour) when the MMD came into power all Nkandu Luo and Chiluba did is to change the colour code to the MMD light BLUE. When PF comes into power they change them into their party colours!
There is nothing wrong with public vehicles having an identity but not in party colours. We can even emulate other countries that have used reflective RIBBONS to identify the public service vehicles.
Why try to fix something that’s not broken???? . Headless chicken behaviour!
Wow, superb blog format! How lengthy have you been running a blog for? you make blogging glance easy. The whole glance of your site is magnificent, let alone the content!
Great paintings! That is the type of info that are meant to be shared across the internet. Shame on the search engines for now not positioning this publish upper! Come on over and visit my web site . Thanks =)