A number of travelers including students are still stranded as people flock the bus stations to beat the deadline on the suspension of inter-district travels.
This follows the Sunday night announcement by President Yoweri Museveni that passenger transport between or through districts would be banned starting June 10.
The demand for transport was heightened by the closure of schools effective Monday 7, meaning that some 5 million children countrywide were sent home.
Since yesterday all bus terminals and taxi parks around the country were swarmed with intending travelers, while some stages were filled with stranded passengers. A number of bus/taxi operators also took advantage of the demand and hiked transport fares.
The transport fare from Kampala-Gulu and Kampala-Kitgum went up from 50,000 and 70,000 shillings one way to between 80,000-100,000 shillings and between 100,000-150,000shillings respectively.
Winnie Ayot, a student from Kampala says she had to spend the night at Namayiba bus terminal in Kampala since there was no transport means to Gulu. Rachkara Emmanuel, another student, who managed to travel to Gulu, had to spend his night at Lamogi ber bus terminal since they arrived late in the night.
Ojara Luzaveld, the manager Makome bus company says they had to drive empty buses from upcountry to Kampala to pick up people, hence the increment in fares.
