Some passengers of the Aayalolo buses in Accra are not pleased with the recent rise in transportation costs implemented by management.
Aayalolo is a Bus Rapid Transit System [BRT] that started in 2016 in Ghana and is meant to deliver comfortable and cost-effective services to passengers.
However, amid the recent economic downturn, the management of Aayalolo has made an upward adjustment of the fares.
Some passengers say they are not happy with the upward adjustment because the difference between what they pay for a commercial vehicle (trotro) and the Aayalolo is insignificant.
One passenger who commutes from Amasaman to Accra said “At first I used to stand by the road to pick up trotro from Amasaman to Accra and the fare was GH5.50p and Aayalolo was GH4.50p but right now, from Amasaman to Accra is Gh7.00 for Aayalolo and commercial vehicle (trotro) is GH7.60p.
The difference is 60p, which is not anything to go by” he said.
Another passenger also said “I think Aayalolo should be less expensive compared to the commercial vehicle (trotro).
You can ask the drivers and conductors; we have been fighting with them because of this new fare.
I think they should reduce it. I join from Amasaman to Accra and the difference compared to the trotro is almost the same.
We beg the management to do something about it.”
The State-owned commercial buses in recent times have had high patronage due to the high percentage increase in transport fares from commercial vehicles [Trotro].
Intra-city transportation played an important role in propelling economic growth and sustainable poverty reduction.
However, due to the recent economic downturn, government-owned commercial buses are facing huge problems regarding the number of buses fit to be on the road.
Some state-owned buses have been parked due high cost of spare parts. The maintenance culture of these vehicles is not up to par. Management of Metro Mass and Aayalolo buses look unconcern concerning fixing these buses.
These buses have facilitated the haulage of goods, movement of people and general integration of the rural and urban economies.
The buses, with the capacity to take 80 passengers, are equipped with GPS, cameras, television monitors and mobile charging points.
Public Transportation in Ghana’s capital city Accra is in dire need of a facelift. Due to an increase in population and the lack of attention to city design, the city roads have seen an increase in vehicular activity, leading to traffic congestion and increased pollution from vehicles.
At the moment, trotros are the most popular form of transport for the average citizen. There have been attempts to modernise the system by digitising the routes trotros use but that has not come to full fruition.
But in terms of technological advancements, trotros are still considered “manual”. Payment is normally done by cash and learning about the routes is sometimes more of an experience than finding the information openly available online.
Government Failure
The Government of Ghana has tried to intervene to try and improve public transportation in Accra over the years.
The Metro Mass and Aayalolo have been established to help. But regular issues including maintenance and small road networks have not helped the buses scale up and commuters don’t see them as reliable as compared to trotros.
Over the years, the Government has introduced different projects to improve public transportation but these projects either get abandoned or poorly managed to the point that it never reaches their maximum potential.
Solution
There have been lots of suggestions put out by both the citizenry and government officials on how to improve public transportation in Accra. From importing more buses to consciously having a maintenance culture.
A better maintenance plan needs to be developed for public transport buses. Over the years, the Transport ministry keeps ordering new busses like clockwork to augment their fleet. But if there were better maintenance plans to be followed, there would be more public buses for commuters to use.
