The Lagos State Bus Rapid Transit buses (BRT) have over the years become commuters’ first choice of public transport. But recently, commuters go through unpleasant circumstances at the bus-stops and also in the hands of some ticketers before boarding buses to their destinations.
Suffice to note that BRT buses are patronized more than other commercial buses because passengers will be saving travel time, travelling cheaper, and also feel safer on the road; hence the rate of usage has remarkably increased.
With this situation, commuters now have to wait longer on queues at the Bus-stop before they get buses to convey them to their destinations, even as they face the issue of getting accurate fare prices to buy tickets while some are allegedly harassed by ticketers.
Speaking with some of the passengers on their ordeals of boarding BRT buses to their destination, some disclosed to New Telegraph that they wait for about two hours at the bus stop before they get buses to where they are going, which by implication, makes them late for appointments.
New Telegraph met Mrs. Love Ogoegbunam at the busstop, where she was waiting for a bus to meet up with an appointment at Iyana Ipaja, a sub urban area in Lagos. She revealed that she has been at the bus-stop waiting for about two hours to get a bus to Iyana Ipaja, but there was no bus to take her and other passengers on the queue to their destinations.
Also, Mr. Victor Joseph, a regular user of the BRT buses at the Oshodi axis, described the situation where passengers wait on a long queue before boarding buses as unpredictable, disappointing and frustrating. He said: “I have been using this road for quite some time now, and with the BRT buses, it could be unpredictable. Sometimes, you come in here and in two minutes, you are gone, if there are buses on ground.
But as it is today, there are just a few buses here, meaning that some of us have been here for more than 40 minutes. For instance, I have an appointment by 2pm today. As it is now, I am not sure I will leave here on time for my appointment. “But at times, it could be disappointing and frustrating to run late for an appointment.
Having more buses will help but I don’t see that as the solution. There are times that you have enough BRT buses on ground, and at times nothing due to traffic or human errors”, he added However, despite the ordeals that most passengers face at the bus stops before boarding buses to their destinations, many still join the long queues to wait for BRT buses even when there is none on ground. According to some of the passengers, they believe that because BRT buses are more comfortable and safer.
They prefer them to other commercial buses. One of the passengers, who spoke to New Telegraph, Mr. Adekunle Raji, said, “I prefer BRT to other public transport because it is safer and comfortable. The truth is that you can enter BRT buses with millions of naira and you will not be scared but it is unlikely for other public transport”
According to Adebowale Adekunle, an assistant field officer of LAGBUS, the official service provider of the BRT buses, users of the BRT buses wait for long on the queue because of the traffic situation in the state. He said: “In Lagos, we have traffic problem.
To make it clearer, we have peak and less peak periods. During less peak periods, we do have enough buses on ground but during peak periods, where there is traffic, our buses get stuck in the traffic and they cannot fly.”
Meanwhile, according to Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), over 400 million passengers has been carried in the last five years, average daily ridership is 180,000 passengers, average load factor of 800 passengers carried per bus daily, average daily trip per day is 5, average waiting time is 15 minutes
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