By Adonis Byemelwa
A renewed push to block long-distance buses from bypassing Dar es Salaam’s Magufuli Bus Terminal has reignited one of the longest-running fights in Tanzania’s transport policy. However, the real concern is not what the authorities want, but why they have struggled to achieve it after three years of repeated demands.
Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Albert Chalamila reignited a long-running debate over the city’s intercity transport system on June 29 after describing bus operations at Shekilango as “uchafu” (“a mess”) and insisting that all long-distance buses terminate at the Magufuli Bus Terminal. “Huu ni uchafu,” Chalamila said, accusing operators of abandoning the official terminal and turning Shekilango into an unofficial bus station.
It was pretty much the same role he had been offered in 2023. Three years later, however, buses continue to pick up and drop off people at Shekilango and the offices of private companies throughout the city.
That perseverance has shifted the argument from transit policy to government implementation and public accountability. The Magufuli Bus Terminal at Mbezi Luis was designed to be the showpiece intercity transit facility in Tanzania.
The facility was constructed at an estimated cost of between TSh50.9 billion and TSh54.6 billion, and TSh8.5 billion was paid in compensation to affected households, to centralise long-distance passenger transit, enhance safety, and improve regulation and revenue collection.
“For years, government officials have insisted that consolidating buses at a single terminal would make it easier to manage passengers, tighten regulation and increase security. They have also said the investment can only achieve the benefits it is designed to deliver if operators take full advantage of the facility.
However, compliance with these aims has been variable. Despite several government pronouncements on enforcing exclusive use of the official terminal, a recent investigation by Pan African Visions revealed that buses are still operating from private terminals.
This fact poses an awkward question for policymakers. Why do so many operators continue to go around the terminal, even though the policy has been in place for years without permanently solving the problem? One effect has been a loss of public funding.
In previous government talks, it was reported that the Ubungo Municipal Council was losing more than TSh600 million every month because many buses were not fully utilising the official terminal.
Those projections have sometimes been touted as a rationale for tougher enforcement. Authorities, however, have not given the public updated numbers to demonstrate whether revenue losses have improved or deteriorated from those early predictions.
The city’s pocketbook is not the only thing feeling the pinch. The terminal was conceived as more than a place to collect fees. It was also intended to upgrade Tanzania’s intercity transport system through centralised operations and better regulation. Bus operators, however, have consistently contended that the matter is more complex than mere compliance.
They say that the geography of Dar es Salaam and passenger preferences make it difficult to use the terminal exclusively from a commercial and operational perspective. Many passengers find the terminal too far from where they live or work, according to the Tanzania Bus Owners Association (TABOA). “Some travellers spend almost as much getting to the terminal as they do on the intercity journey itself,” Secretary General Priscus John told Pan African Visions.
Operators have also cited congestion, passenger convenience and the location of company booking offices as reasons why many travellers prefer alternative drop-off points. Therein lies the concern that the debate is about urban mobility as much as about law enforcement. For passengers, the math is often simple.
A traveller arriving in Mwanza, Mbeya, or Arusha after an overnight journey is generally more interested in getting home quickly and cheaply than in where a bus officially ends its route. Passengers to Kigamboni, Mbagala, Temeke, Chanika and the city centre often have to pay more for transport on arrival at Mbezi Luis.
These costs can significantly increase travel costs, especially for families and low-income commuters. In general, transport planners say that centralised terminals only work if efficient feeder transport networks back them.
Without reliable and affordable connections, passengers will naturally look for more convenient alternatives closer to their destinations. Perhaps the most telling part of the debate is not passenger behaviour, but government implementation.
For years, authorities have insisted that buses use the terminal, but why has compliance with this directive been so long in coming? That question became more significant in late 2025, when Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office (Regional Administration and Local Government), Reuben Kwagilwa, established a 90-day committee to investigate why buses continued to avoid the terminal despite years of directives.
The committee was tasked with examining operational challenges, revenue collection and stakeholder concerns. Its formation acknowledged that the problem had not been solved through previous enforcement efforts.
Nevertheless, authorities have not publicly provided a comprehensive update on the committee’s findings or explained how its recommendations have influenced subsequent policy.
Questions, therefore, remain unanswered. Did the committee identify legal loopholes, weak enforcement, operational challenges, or broader structural problems that require changes to the transport system itself? Another issue concerns regulatory consistency.
In 2022, then Dar es Salaam Regional Commissioner Amos Makalla clarified earlier directives on passenger boarding and alighting arrangements at the terminal, reflecting the government’s efforts to balance regulation with operational realities.
Reporting by Pan African Vision has also suggested that differing interpretations of municipal approvals and transport regulations have contributed to uncertainty over how private terminals should operate. If so, the challenge may involve not only enforcement but also regulatory clarity.
As government efforts have repeatedly stalled, public debate has increasingly shifted to social media. Some users have argued that influential commercial interests benefit from maintaining the current system and therefore oppose stricter enforcement. Those views remain opinions expressed online.
There is no publicly available evidence demonstrating improper influence over transport policy, nor have authorities publicly accused bus operators or other stakeholders of unlawful conduct. What the online discussion does reveal is growing public frustration. Many Tanzanians question why a transport project financed with billions of shillings has yet to fulfil the role for which it was originally constructed.
The Magufuli Bus Terminal has therefore become more than a transport facility. It now represents a broader test of how Tanzania manages major public infrastructure investments after construction is complete.
Building infrastructure is only one part of the challenge. Ensuring that regulations, public services, enforcement mechanisms and commuter behaviour align with that infrastructure often proves far more difficult.
Chalamila’s latest directive has once again placed the issue at the centre of national debate. Whether this renewed campaign succeeds will depend less on political declarations than on the practical actions that follow.
Among the questions still awaiting answers are whether LATRA will publish updated compliance figures, whether Ubungo Municipal Council will disclose current revenue losses, whether the Ministry of Transport will clarify the legal framework governing private terminals, and whether authorities will strengthen feeder transport to improve passenger convenience.
Those answers will finally determine whether the Magufuli Bus Terminal finally becomes the transport hub it was built to be, or whether it continues to symbolise the gap between ambitious public investment and the everyday realities of urban transport in one of Africa’s fastest-growing cities.
The government’s next steps will be closely watched as a measure of whether major infrastructure projects can deliver both public value and practical convenience while meeting the expectations of the millions of commuters they are meant to serve.
