<<Print>>

Credible information available to the New Independent say, about one hundred and seventy nine (179) buses bought and imported into the country by the government have been left to rot at the Achimota bus terminal in Accra.

According to sources close to the Minister of Transport and Local Government, this development, even though amounts to causing financial loss to the state, has arisen as a result of lack of dedicated lanes within the Accra Metropolis for use by the buses.

A visit to the Achimota Bus Terminal by a team from The New Independent revealed a sorry sight and scene of nicely looking buses that were to have been used by the Aayalolo transport company, but which are currently parked at the terminal and left at the mercy of the weather.

Meanwhile as these buses have been left for close to two years at the Achimota bus terminal, access to means of transport in the Accra Metropolis especially and other cities and big owns in the country like Kumasi, Tamale, Takoradi and others in the early hours of the day as well as the rush hours of the day, is increasingly becoming problematic, due to lack of adequate buses.

Passengers therefore have to rely on the numerous private transports whose drivers and mates sometimes abuse them with impunity amidst charging them exorbitant fares during these hours.

Our information is that, the Aayalolo bus Transport System is ran by the Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive (GAPTE) and was launched on November 25, 2016 by former president john Dramani Mahama.

The operations of the company were said to have begun officially on December 1, 2016 with two hundred and forty seven (247) buses imported into the country with the tax payer’s money.
Our sources say, currently, only sixty one (61) buses are in use on the Amasaman-Tudu Corridor whiles three are in use in the Kumasi Metropolis in the Ashanti region.

The introduction of this bus system was to assist to a large extent, the thirteen District Assemblies in the Accra Metropolis, to address the numerous transport challenges of their residents in their quest to move from one destination to another within the Metropolis and beyond, which desire eventually saw the birth and the creation of the Aayalolo Bus Transit system.

Our source also hinted that, the thirteen (13) metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives constitute the Board of Directors of this transport system, who have the responsibility of overseeing its efficiency, a duty they are to perform in collaboration with the Ministry of local Government as well the Ministry of Transport, that only serve as the policy makers on transport issues as far as the Aayalolo bus system is concerned.

In an exclusive interview with the Public Relations Officer of GAPTE, Mr. Fred Chidi, he explained that, the buses have been parked at the terminal as a result of the failure to have the various Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lanes constructed on our roads across the metropolis.

He said, “The original plan was not to pilot the transport operations but to roll it out on the Kasoa-Accra Tudu Corridor.”
Mr. Chidi said, “The concept is that, there must be bus dedicated lanes constructed purposely for these buses for easy movement and to also save travel time of passengers by not waiting much time in traffic during the early and rush hours of the day.”

“These buses were procured on loans by the Government of Ghana, and these loans will be repaid with the taxes paid by the ordinary Ghanaian, therefore, I see no reason why we should leave these buses at the Achimota terminal to rust and to rot.”

The Aayalolo PRO revealed that, as at now, only five percent (5%) of the needed dedicated lanes are in place, saying the full corridor stretch is about 21 kilometers and said, that was causing the delay in rolling out their operations to cover the Kasoa, Adenta and Tema corridors to boost the transport sector and to also make available buses to ease the means of transport within the Metropolis and beyond.

“If these dedicated lanes are not done and the buses are released onto our roads, there will be more congestion on our roads, which was why this system was introduced to decongest our roads within the Metropolis,” he said.

According to Mr. Chidi, the principle behind Aayalolo is to transport large people from one destination to another destination to save residents the stress of struggling to get transport during rush hours of the day.

Elaborating more on why most of its buses are left at the terminal at the mercy of the weather, Mr. Chidi also noted that, since its establishment, it has not received any financial quota from government to run its day to day activities.

He indicated that, currently, they are running at a loss since they rely only on revenue generated from the sales of tickets to cater for the salary of staff and to pay other bills of GAPTE.

On the way forward, the Public Relations Officer of GAPTE, appealed to government to inject capital into the system to ensure its efficiency and to achieve the purpose of its creation in 2016.
“We lift fuel, buy the spare parts, among other stuffs form the revenue generated from our ticket sales at our various terminal points,” he said.

He called on government to give to GAPTE seed capital to run the bus system and some form of grants and tax exemption to make profits to help its efforts enhancing the development and growth of the economy and the country at large.

Mr. Chidi also called on the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Roads and highways to speed up the construction of BRT lanes to ensure that, the various initiated corridors kick off to ease the pressure on the private transport system as well as ease the stress of passengers in their quest to move around within the Metropolis and even beyond.

Two sources at both the Ministries of Transport and Local Government blamed the two Ministers and their technocrats for their inability to ensure that, the buses are put to good use.
The argued that, “If we cannot construct the bus lanes, does that mean we cannot use these buses.”

They called on the ministers to be up and doing and to think outside the box by ensuring that, the buses are put to use immediately to avoid causing financial loss to the state.