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By Moses Akaigwe
Luxury bus transporters have suspended operations at the Oshodi Transport Interchange (OTI) following a hike in the service charge collected on passengers by the Lagos State Government.
The long distance transporters and the passengers at the busy Terminal 1 of the OTI are opposing an increase from the present N600 to N2,000 per passenger – a 333 percent increase – on a single trip with effect from Thursday, February 1.
It was gathered at the terminal that the transporters have been appealing to the Lagos State Government to rescind the increase in view of the harsh economic realities of the day, even as the regular passengers insist they would not pay the new charge.
In a protest letter by the Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria (ALBON) on Thursday, the transporters reminded the Lagos State Government through the OTI managers, Planet Projects Ltd, that they had earlier at a meeting conceded an increase from N600 to N800.
Describing the increase as “too exorbitant, choking and does not have a human face,” the letter signed by the ALBON President, Mr. Nonso Ubajaka, appealed to the Lagos State Government to reverse it, in order to avoid scaring away the passengers from the terminal, “and ruining our business.”
The transporters summarised their argument against the new access charge thus:
•ALBON maintains that the N2000 increase which the OTI management is proposing should be passed on to the passengers at the Oshodi terminal,cannot in any way be transferred to them in form of an increase in bus fare.
This is because the ALBON tariff is uniform throughout the country including all transport hubs in Lagos State.
For example, if the ALBON bus fare is N18, 000 in all its branches in Lagos State including OTI, passengers at the Interchange will find it extremely difficult to pay an additional N2000.
•ALBON also argues that since transport fares are elastic in demand, all our prospective passengers will choose to go to other zones or branches in Lagos where there is no exorbitant access charge. The effect is that passengers’ patronage at the OTI will be drastically reduced to a low level of about 20 or 25 passengers in a bus with 51 or 59 loading capacity.
“Our members currently operating at the OTI are finding it extremely difficult to survive in the face of escalating costs of business operations at the terminal. For instance, while the OTI presently collects N600 per passenger as access charge, the same management is demanding that the same passenger should pay N100 each time he or she uses the toilet facilities there.
•The access charge increase from N600 to N2000 will completely ruin our business operations at the OTI. We drew your attention to the fact that diesel (AGO) which is a major component of our operations is now over N1000 per litre. Yet, we cannot increase our bus fare to meet up with this exponential increase due to the elasticity of demand in the transport business.
A visit to the busy inter-state terminal revealed that the strike by the ground staff of the luxury bus transport firm’s commenced on February 1, the new access charge took effect.
One of the managers disclosed that they were waiting for directives from the bus owners who were said to be making efforts to convince the government to shelve the plan or, at least, ensure that the increase does not go higher than N800 – a N200 increase as proposed by the umbrella body
He described the new N2000 service charge for luxury bus passengers as “very unfair” and “discriminatory,” because “other inter-state buses, especially those belonging to the members of the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), are still paying only N200.”
He stated that there was no way the Lagos State Government could justify imposing a heavy burden on passengers by collecting N2000 service charge only days after the end of the recent transport fare rebate introduced to ease the pains of oil subsidy removal on passengers.
“It is like giving the public tranport palliative with the right hand and taking it back with the left hand,” he lamented.
Intending passengers who heard of the impending hike on Wednesday had openly voiced their complaints, wondering why the Lagos State Government would think of such a sharp upward review at a time Nigerians are groaning under the weight of economic hardship.
They vowed to resist the increase, adding, however, that if the Lagos State Government goes on to impose the new charge, they would look for alternative transport services.
Some of the passengers threatened to start using other terminals and loading stations belonging to private long distance bus transporters for their travels and goods movement.
“If the increase stands, what is likely to happen is that the fare paid by the man who enters a luxury bus at Oshodi will be higher by N2000 than the fare paid by the passenger travelling to the same destination from Jibowu or any other terminal or station in Lagos,” a passenger explained.
“So, tell me why travellers must continue to come to the Oshodi terminal where Ithey will be charged higher?” another agitated intending traveller who gave his name as Chuka Anaebonam, asked, arguing that he had just been charged N100 for making use of the toilet.
“Now, look at that: You are imposing exorbitant service charge and at the same time you are collecting N100 from the same passengers. Is that not exploitation and double taxation?” he asked.
The likely consequence of the sharp increase, according to another passenger, Valentine Okoro, who was Onitsha-bound, is that the Oshodi terminal would be deserted, because if the passengers refuse to pay, the bus owners would be forced to take their vehicles elsewhere for loading.
The management of Planet Projects could not be reached for their comments, but a staff of the company who spoke on phone, confirmed that the increase from N600 to N2,000 took effect February 1.
“Yes. There is an increase to N2,000 with effect from February 1,” he said, but won’t offer any more comments.
An infuriated manager who identified himself as Okey Transport and recorded his angry view in a voice note, warned that if the increase is implemented, it would scare away passengers from the Oshodi terminal
Okey Transport recalled in the recorded message, “Just last year, OTI increased the service charge from N250 to the present N600. We allowed it to stand. And I remember that I warned that if we accept it, they would soon raise it to N2,000. If we don’t resist this N2000 now, very soon, they will raise it further to N3000.”
He disclosed that the Lagos State Government makes not less than N3 million from the presence of the luxury bus transporters daily, including collecting money from passengers for using the toilet, arguing that an increase in service charge is unnecessary.
At a time when one luxury bus tyre costs more than N200,000, he pointed out, and the overall costs of keeping the vehicles on the road keep rising, imposing more charges on the transporters or their passengers, would compound their headaches.
