Although undeniably beneficial, smart meters for commercial motorcycle operators continue to be frowned upon, especially by riders. Smart meters were introduced at least five years ago, but their adoption is yet to pick up. Regardless of the slow momentum, a plenary seating of the lower chamber, on June 8, decided that motorists will keep using them anyway. Going by the taxi-moto operators’ petition to the parliament, the mandatory use of meters may be solving all other problems at the expense of riders, because any fault in the system can cost them additional charges, in addition to others they have been paying already. One of the problems, they said, is poor internet connection that sometimes leads to errors in the amount of money passengers have to pay, yet after that, it becomes hard to liaise the fees and distance already travelled. Another challenge they said, is the 10 percent of their daily income they have to pay for the gadgets, something they don’t know when it will end. Spéciose Ayinkamiye, the Deputy Chairperson of the Committee on Economy and Trade said that when asked about these issues, Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) said that these meters were introduced five years ago but have received criticism by passengers and drivers on special occasions. However, if used well, both drivers and passengers would benefit from them because of reasons that include safety, which is why identified problems are solved, instead of phasing them out completely like it was requested by some riders. Ayinkamiye said that the meters help security organs trace them and have information on accidents and what caused them. In a resolution that was unanimously agreed on, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MINICOM) will have to present to the lower chamber of the parliament, how they solved these issues that arose in cooperatives and groups of drivers and other issues they may have in a period of three months. Other issues brought to the table were the misuse of funds by taxi-moto cooperatives, where assets are bought without members being consulted, and sometimes mismanagement of funds. This comes after earlier this year, some drivers had a demonstration-like event calling upon the government to solve challenges they had been facing for years. Among the issues were the low travel fee on the smart meters and high insurance premium. This led to the temporary suspension of the mandatory use of smart meters in hardly a week after it was implemented. Changes were then agreed upon during a consultative meeting that brought together different government agencies and taxi moto operators held on February 25, and among them included raising the fees per kilometre and waiving some of the fees drivers had to pay.
