Commuters in Bauchi have lamented difficulties experienced in paying transport fares, as motorists now reject e-payment insisting on cash.

Some of the commuters on Tuesday expressed concern over the rejection of transportation fares through e-payment.

In separate interviews, they blamed the problem on scarcity.

Moses Adam, a commuter at Mobil filling station who planned to travel to Jos, lamented that commuters were suffering due to the scarcity of naira notes and rejection of e-payment.

“I have since come to the park, I want to go to Jos, and I don’t have cash, but I have money in my account. They are rejecting the cash transfer, and point-of-sale machines are unavailable. The motorists insist on payment of transport fare with cash, and cash is not available, and the PoS machines don’t have cash,” he said.

Another commuter, Hafiya Camble, said she was on the verge of missing her cousin’s send-forth party in Gombe due to the same problem.

“The commercial drivers don’t want to accept transfers, and I don’t have cash with me. I don’t know what to do, and I want to travel to Gombe, I am now looking for somebody that can help me because my sister in Gombe said she has N5,000 cash with her, so when we get there, the driver will collect his money,” Ms Camble said.

A commercial driver at the Gombe road motor park, Sanusi Mato, explained that they don’t accept transfers because they sometimes don’t see the alert even after the customer has gone.

“We need cash to buy fuel and convey passengers to their destinations. Some filling stations don’t also accept transfers and either they don’t have PoS or the PoS doesn’t have a network,” he explained. “So these are some of our challenges. That is why we insist on collecting cash, and sometimes the transfer is delayed till the next day. How will you fuel the vehicle?”

Mohammed Abdullahi, the state chairman of the Road Transport Employers Association of Nigeria (RTEAN), explained that they find it difficult to accept cash transfers because some don’t have bank accounts.

“That is why some of them insist on cash, not transfer. They also need cash for other services such as fuel and minor repairs,” stated Mr Abdullahi.

He, however, urged the federal government to ease the hardship by making cash available for transactions. 

(NAN)