Beginning from August 1st, 2020, commuters in Lagos will have to pay 46% increase fare when they use the services of the Bus Rapid Transit scheme.
The Lagos State Government has also explained that the approval of increase in the cost of BRT service is in order to keep the service providers in business.
The Commissioner for Transportation, FREDERICK OLADEINDE, said the bus rapid transit operators have been charging below the market rate.
OLADEINDE, who spoke in a telephone interview with Lasgidi FM’s News Desk, said the decision was taken against the backdrop of current realities.
“During COVID, we had to restrict the number of people that go in, from 71 to 20. And then, recently, we just increased to …reach just sitting capacity. The problem we have right now is that, even with that, there’s a shortfall”, OLADEINDE said.
The Transportation Commissioner observed that the transportation company may be forced to go down if it does not charge the market rate, which government does not want to happen.
“It’s either we let them charge the market rate and let the buses operate, or they go …, in which case, we have no buses to ride”, the Commissioner explained.
The Lagos State Commissioner for Transportation further explained that it was not the intention of the government to bring more hardship on Lagosian, adding that it was also providing infrastructural subsidy to keep the cost of the BRT service low.
“Number one, those buses do not pay for themselves; those new buses. So, basically, with what we are charging, it doesn’t pay for itself even over ten years. So the difference is what the government is paying. That’s part of the subsidy.”
FREDRICK OLADEINDE said the other way government is subsidizing the BRT service is through the road infrastructure upon which the buses operate.