The Lagos State government has expressed dissatisfaction with partial compliance by commercial transporters (yellow buses) on their promise to reduce fares.

The Director of Transport Operations, Ministry of Transportation, Olasukanmi Ojowuro, spoke during an inspection visit to parks and garages in Lagos on Thursday.

The ministry team, with the media, visited the Agege, Iyana-Ipaja, and Ikeja areas of Lagos.

Mr Ojowuro, addressing the union and commuters, said they came to monitor their compliance level with the promise to reduce transport fares across the board.

“We visited seven units in Agege, while five units complied, and we have informed the noncompliant units to do the needful because we have officials who will be monitoring them,” he said.

He recalled that the commercial buses pledged to reduce fares by 25 per cent after meeting Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu.

Mr Ojowuro urged transport unions to always comply with safety standards and avoid parking indiscriminately, which could add to traffic on the road.

At Ikeja and Iyana-Ipaja, Mr Ojowuro commended the compliance level of the transport union. He pleaded with them to support the reduction in some parks, where it had yet to be implemented.

The Director of Administration and Human Resources, Ministry of Transportation, Lawal Akapo, begged the commercial bus union to comply.

Mr Akapo said if the transport fare were reasonable, many passengers would benefit from the transportation system, and it would help the government to achieve its relief intervention.

He explained to the transporters that Mr Sanwo-Olu always respected and appreciated them for their interaction and movement of goods and services from one point to another.

Mr Akapo advised them to always drive with a number plate, sticker and follow other regulatory standards to reduce accidents to the barest minimum.

The Director, Public Transport and Commuter Services, Adebayo Olusoji, appealed to commuters and the transport union to always do the right thing.

Iyabo Akeju, chairman, Alausa route in Agege, said they had reduced state government tickets to N600 following government directive, while they had also reduced their daily ticket to N200 from the initial N400.

At Iyana-Ipaja, Nosiru Disu, chairman, Branch U, Inter-State Transportation, said they were collecting N3,000 from Iyana-Ipaja to Ijehu, and they had reduced it to N2,500, and the same applied to the Ibadan trip.

The organising Secretary, Ishaga unit, Hakeem Egberonbi, said they did not increase their fare, and collected Ikeja to Ishaga, N400 and N500 at night.

The unit chairman, Ikeja Alausa, Samsideen Babajide, said they had not increased their fare before and after the subsidy removal.

Mr Sanwo-Olu had, on Monday, announced that the state was effecting a 50 per cent slash on fares on the BRT buses with effect from August 2.

The move was to reduce the hardship faced by commuters in the aftermath of the removal of the petrol subsidy.

(NAN)