DESPITE the rapid growth of telecommunication technologies the world over in the area of money transfers, many Tanzanians still prefer to send money to relatives, friends and other dependents by passenger bus countrywide – the ready availability of other methods such as bank transfers, money grams/Western Union and mobile telephony transfer services notwithstanding!
The reason(s) for this are as unfathomable as they are curious... This is especially considering that the bus companies involved charge almost ten times more for the service than what the mobile telephony and other high-tech operators charge!
The reason(s) could, of course, simply be sentimental. Money transfers by bus in Tanzania started more than five years ago, when the modern technological fads were still unknown. This historical inertia could very well be fueling the wish to continue dealing with the devil you know, so to speak!
A week-long survey by Business Times established that the Akamba Bus Company; Dar Express; Kilimanjaro Express and Mtei Express – all of which have offices in Dar es Salaam – local bus companies – are among the providers of money transfer services, and provide considerable competition against the more sophisticated providers of similar services!
Officials of these bus companies who spoke to Business Times confirmed that there is a goodly number of Tanzanians who utilise their services as a matter of course. This is despite the facts that their commission rates are much higher – and their delivery services relatively slower!
For instance, sending money by Western Union and similar service providers within Tanzania costs one per cent (or less-than-one per cent) of the amount being transferred.
For their part, the mobile telephony companies charge between one and two per cent of the transacted money, depending on the mobile firm concerned.
By comparison, however, the bus companies charge not less than ten per cent of the value of the money involved!
Besides, while the high-tech money transfer services take seconds or minutes from Point 'A' to Point 'B,' the bus transfer services take hours – and even days.
This is partly because the delivery/payment instructions are conveyed to the destination along with the parcels manifest of the transporting bus, usually traversing rough terrain in infrastructure-poor Tanzania!
Roughly, what this means is that the person for whom the money is intended at Point 'B' can only access the money if and when the bus involved reaches the relevant destination hour, days later!
Speaking to Business Times in separate interviews, officials of the four surveyed bus companies admitted to providing money transfer services in addition to their traditional services of conveying passengers and parcels.
They also agreed to charging a commission of ten per cent for the service, based upon the amount of money being so transferred.
However, none of them could say why customers still flock to the bus companies for money transfer services when the services are slower and more expensive compared to the services provided by the banks and mobile telephony companies.
Again, none of them were able to confirm that their companies are authorised to offer such financial services in terms of the country's financial services legislation.
At one point in time, the Bank of Tanzania (BoT) was looking into the possibility of formalizing the money transfer service for bus firms. Reportedly, however, the the firms did not cooperate with the central bank and, instead, preferred to go on with the businesses on the sly, as it were!
Interviewed by Business Times during the 35th Dar International Trade Fair last month, some BoT officials said the central bank was aware of money transfer transactions by bus companies. But, for lack of cooperation on the part of the bus owners, moves to formalise the business for the benefit of all have not been successful so far.
In the event, it has not been possible to gauge the volume of the money transfer business using buses. |
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