13 Mar Transport fares: should there be fixed prices ?
The weirdest of things happen on Lagos roads.
I was on my way to work on this fateful day and got to the bus stop to find the usual scenario, very few buses available and a crowd that kept growing by the minute. Agbero’s smoking ‘igbo’ (Indian hemp) and collecting tax (that’s what they call it), from conductors,to give them tickets and mark their buses with permanent markers that make them legible to ply that route that day. People have to push and shove to be lucky enough to board a bus and whilst this is going you could fall prey to swift fingered pick pockets who join the crowd like they are trying to board the bus too but are in fact going nowhere so that you whether you eventually board the bus or not,at some point you discover certain valuables have been stolen and worse, there’s no way to decipher how it happened because everybody like one avalanche wanted the bus at the same time. Added to this frustration, you hear the conductor yell out “150 ni Maryland o” (the bus fare is 150) instead of the usual 50naira.
The Agbero’s sometimes determine the transport fares for the day not the driver or conductor. If the crowd is massive then transport fare doubles and it is usually announced by the Agbero collecting the tax not the driver or conductor. So for a place you would normally pay 100naira it becomes 250 naira and if you are in a hurry, you accept your fate.
Should Agbero’s have such liberties in fixing transport fares or should the government impose a fixed amount?
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