Tunde Busari recently took a ride in the Bus Rapid Transport
scheme and reports.
The traffic gridlock stretching from Iyana-Ipaja to Cement Bus Stop
on that Thursday morning caused a lot of pain to commuters.
They spontaneously poured venom on the government for its
perceived failure to find a lasting solution to the incessant traffic
problem on the road.
However, when they got to Cement Bus stop and discovered it was
an abandoned Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) that broke down in the
middle of the road thereby reducing the road to a narrow path, it
further provoked the commuters they called for the head of the
management of BRT for poor maintenance culture.
End of a well conceived dream?
A similar incident had earlier occurred somewhere at Abule-Egba
when one of the BRT buses caught fire in motion. The bus was
completely razed because it had no fire extinguisher, a basic fire
preventive measure!
These separate occurrences are the true reflection of what has
become of the services of the BRT buses which are becoming a
public embarrassment.
The scheme which began in 2007 as a way to assist in alleviating
transportation difficulty faced by Lagosians on daily basis is
gradually falling apart.
Operating on dedicated right of way, the transport system initially
offered hope for the commuters as they received it with
excitement and expected it was going to pose a threat to the
continued patronage of the popular Molue, the ubiquitous Lagos
mass transit vehicles.
In fact, the system soon after rolling out turned into a model
which other states embraced. However, the fleet of the hitherto
sleek buses are now dilapidated, many with dented exteriors,
broken bumpers, defaced registration number plates, broken light
and generally ill-maintained thereby causing discomfort to
passengers who have to contend with dusty and dirty interior.
Sunday Amoran, a graphic artist resident at Ijaye conveniently
ranks among the reliable passengers of the BRT buses since its
inception. As someone who had lived in Europe for years, he was
addicted to plying public buses due to the comfort they offer
passengers as well as their style of operation involving an orderly
queue as against the struggle characterizing boarding the
commercial buses. Amoran now prefers to patronize neat
commercial buses because of the disappointment which BRT buses
have become considering their deplorable state.
“I have lost interest in the buses because they are not in a true
sense better than the yellow colour buses. I don’t know why they
are not being managed well by the authorities in charge of them.
The day I was the one cleaning dust from the seat was the first
time I started noticing deterioration in the buses whereas they
have some ladies employed to ensure the buses are in good shape.
“Looking at some of them from outside and their dented body
shows that soon they will fade away like those before them. It is
just unfortunate because I love orderliness which the buses
provided when they started operation,” he lamented.
Unruly drivers
In addition to this is the conduct of some of the drivers of the
buses in transit, the conduct which has lately attracted not only
the attention of other road users but also their jeers.
It was learnt that the drivers, apparently hiding under the cover
of their employers (the state government), engage in reckless
driving which partly accounted for some of the dents adorning the
body of the buses. They exceed speed limit and their traffic
infractions are often overlooked by the police and the Lagos State
Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA).
“As far as I am concerned I am disappointed in those drivers with
what they have become these days. Their uniform is the only thing
that differentiates them from the commercial drivers who are
known for the recklessness and disobedience to the right of other
road users. This speaks volume of the kind of drivers the
management recruited. They are more or less like thugs the
politicians used during campaign,” Amoran said.
But Dele Ayinde, one of the drivers cautioned the public against a
blanket condemnation of all the drivers in the employment of
BRT. Ayinde who also confirmed the misconduct of some of his
colleagues exonerated himself, maintaining that he has never
misbehaved neither has he received a query from his employer
since 2008 when he was employed some months after he
completed his Ordinary National Diploma.
Although he had operated a commercial bus in Lagos before going
to school, he claimed his return to driving was a stopgap of sort
against unemployment and as such he was always mindful of the
implication of going against the traffic rule.
“The right of other road users is always at the back of my mind
whenever I am behind the wheel. Because of this, I always drive
with care to the satisfaction of my passengers. But this is not
saying that we don’t have some of our people who are not
supposed to be in this type of job in the first place. But my take is
that government job is public job which is for all comers. But my
employers are trying to retrain us in line with the standard with
which they want us to operate,” he said.
Press and Public Relations Officer of the LAGBUS Asset
Management Limited, Durojaye Olanrewaju also confirmed that
the management does organize periodic training for its drivers
against the backdrop of public complaints about their excessive
attitude on the roads.
Dealing with the defiant
According to him, integrity and responsiveness are the two
elements that drive the company’s interaction with its passengers
in order to provide high level customer service. In achieving this
standard, he said, the company has already trained about 500
drivers while it has also wielded the big stick on the errant ones
to discourage bad behaviour. Sanction comes in form of query,
salary deduction and outright dismissal.
“This measure is our own way of showing the drivers that we
would not compromise the standard we have set to be a model to
commercial buses. It amounts to a shame if the passengers are
comparing our drivers with commercial drivers we are supposed
to teach civilized way of operating buses on roads.
“As regards the state of our buses, we have a maintenance
department and workshop where buses are serviced and
rehabilitated. But you will agree with me that machine used over
time as a matter of fact deteriorates. That is what the public
complain about,” he said.
To the Chief Operating Officer of the NURTW/Cooperative, Korede
Adeyemi, his company is not unaware of the declining state of the
buses in its fleet. Like Olanrewaju, he attributes this to the
uninterrupted operation since inception which makes the buses
giving in to the natural law of diminishing return. He, however,
promised a total overhaul of the buses.
Showing our correspondent the two buses just repaired by the
company at his Ketu depot, Adeyemi stressed that auto spare parts
to fix others will soon arrive the country in a few weeks to meet
the target of completing the rehabilitation by October.
“We are working seriously towards achieving this because that is
the only way to move the company forward and I am assuring
you that we are going to achieve it. As you can see the two buses
we have already repaired.
“That is the state we want to return the buses to so that we will be
able to serve our passengers better. It is not good to have dented
buses on the road. They make mockery of us. The welfare of our
passengers is important to me because without them we cannot be
in business. So, the buses will be fixed soon,” he said.
Adeyemi, however, does not lose sight of why it took the company
so long to fix the problem. According to him, the intra-union
crisis that rocked the Lagos State branch of the National Union of
Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the major stakeholder of the
company since November 2011 has taken a toll on the operation of
the company where the loyalists of the warring factions in the
employment of the company flex muscle to the detriment of
effective operation. This development has turned the drivers to an
unmanageable specie taking law into their hands at will.
“It is unfortunate this is happening but it is the reality one needs
to cope with. But by the time we are through with this, there is no
doubt that we are going to be a good example on transportation
investment not only in Lagos but in the entire country,” Adeyemi
said.
Former Minister for Transport, Chief Ebenezer Babatope is of the
view that government must encourage mass transit because of the
strategic role transport play in the economy. Babatope said when
he was minister he encouraged the formation of cooperative
societies which were given loan with subsidized interest.
“This encouraged investment in transport business and eased the
movement of goods, which is the vehicle that drives the economy.
I can only encourage the management of the BRT to fix the
problem to attract passengers and improve the economy,” he said.
However, the fear that the BRT dream may be dying out was
extinguished on May 29 when the management of LAGBUS Asset
Management rolled out another set of new buses, totalling 200 to
complement the number in its fleet.
At the official launch of the buses, Governor Raji Fashola,
Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of the parastatal,
Babatunde Disu said acquisition of the new buses was an effort to
extend the service to the Yaba-Oyingbo axis with more assurance
of taking over transport system in the metropolis.
According to Disu, “As the Commissioner for Transport, Kayode
Opeifa has said, we would paint Lagos red with the eye-catching
colour of our high capacity buses before the end of the year. That
is our target as we are hoping to take delivery of more before the
year runs out.”
The megacity wait in baited breath to see the realisation of this
dream and put an end to the transport nighmare.