Chinsapo men using bicycles productively

For those living in suburbs, bicycles are for youngsters to ride in their yards or adults who want to keep fit. But travelling to some parts of the country such as Liwonde in Machinga, Balaka, Mponela in Dowa, Chinsapo in Lilongwe and Chibavi in Mzuzu, many men are making a living from bicycles.

The men, who use their bicycles to transport people from one place to another at a fee, are feeding their families and educating their children from this business. Others have even built good houses out of the same business.

Twenty-four-year-old Matthews Salijeni is one of the people who are involved in this business. Plying his trade at Chinsapo, Salijeni does not mind sharing his story.

“People do not believe that I have built a good house out of this bicycle taxi business,” he says proudly.

Salijeni is not alone in the business of picking and dropping passengers at their destinations around dusty Chinsapo roads. Over 70 bicycles operate around the slums and they have four depots.

Unlike the minibus business where drivers scramble for passengers, bicycle taxi operators at Chinsapo work on first -come-first-served basis. The one who is the first to arrive at the depot will be the first one on the queue to pick a passenger.

And the bicycle operators take the security of their passengers as a priority.

“Every bicycle is registered and has a unique number. We wrote down all the registered bicycles in a book and submitted it to police. So, if one of the bicycle taxi operators does something bad to a passenger we can easily trace him and have him arrested,” says 31-year-old Bester Banda.

Elsewhere, when the passenger gets injured on bicycle taxi, the bicycle owner runs away. However, this is not the case with Chinsapo men.

“Each bicycle operator contributes K50 per day to Chinsapo Bicycle Association (BCA). When one is involved in an accident and the passenger gets injured, we use this money to help out the injured,” says Chiphazi.

They are so organised that even when one of them dies, they use money from BCA to buy a coffin and food.

When they knock off, usually at 8.30pm, they park the bicycles in their homes. However, not all of them own these bicycles. Some are employees.

“Our constitution allows a person to own a maximum of three bicycles. Therefore, most of us [bicycle taxi operators] are employed by people who own more than one bicycle. The owner of the three bicycles collects K800 from each bicycle and the remaining money goes to the one who operates the bicycle,” says Martin Kaswaya Zimba, former trust chairperson for BCA.

Considering the plight of orphans in their highly populated community, BCA has a policy which aims at giving back to society by supporting orphans.

“We allow people who are looking after orphans to have their bicycles operating among us without them paying a fee to the association,” says Zimba.

He adds that the constitution also helps to ensure discipline among the operators.

“The constitution does not allow us to drink and ride. This ensures our passengers are always safe,” he says.

As early as 4.30am, the Chinsapo men are already on the road to carry the early birds of Lilongwe town.

The bicycle taxi business has changed the lives of many slum dwellers. Apart from benefiting people such as 27-year-old Rabson Chiphazi who is renting a K7 000 electrified house and paying school fees for his brothers, the business also benefits students travelling to and from school at a small fee.

This is really a wonderful business and young people may obviously wish to drop out of school and dive into it. But it is not free for all. The BCA does not allow young men below the age of 18 to join this endeavour.

“We want young people to focus on education,” emphasises William Msanyama, general secretary of BCA.

Female passengers need not to worry because they are safe in the hands of Chinsapo bicycle taxi men.

“Here we don’t have cases of bicycle taxi riders raping female passengers like it is the case elsewhere. Our constitution is very strict on adherence to high moral values,” says Msanyama.

In Salima, bicycle taxi is called kabaza while in Nkhotakota it is called dampa. In Mzuzu it is called sacramento. But regardless of the differences in names, the fact remains that the bicycle taxi is a goldmine from which the operators escape the extreme poverty of slum life.