Taskforce Arrests Drivers ChargingUnapproved Prices
Some commuters in and around the busy town of Kasoa, in the Central Region, are reputedly jilting commercial vehicles popularly known as trotro for buses released on four major routes to enhance movements as the yuletide approaches.
The development is a response to weeks of extortions by drivers and their ‘mates’ in parts of the national capital, Accra and parts of the country including the Kumasi metropolis.
TheNewRepublic monitoring of the situation has been that, due to the Christmas season, drivers during rush hours and at night increase fares in some cases by more than 100 percent. This reportedly stemmed from lack of buses to convey commuters to and fro.
In some cases, the drivers instead of picking passengers from, for instance the Central Business District (CBD) to Kasoa, conveniently advertise to be going to just half of the journey and charge a certain fare, only to get to the destination and then they indicate they are actually going to Kasoa and charge another fare.
In Kumasi for instance, some of the youth have organized themselves in a form of ‘citizen vigilante’ movement and are ensuring that drivers and their mates who flout the law are punished. In videos sighted by this portal, mates especially are lashed for charging more than the approved fares.
Despite objection by the public these drivers continued to make undeserved money.
After the calls fell on deaf ears, government through the Ministry of Transport, intervened by releasing a number of buses to affected routes, to ease the unbearable pressure.
The emergency deployment of the buses on major corridors within Accra serves as part of efforts to ease the pressure on commuters during the evening rush hours. The intervention took effect on Wednesday, 10 December.
Under the arrangement, minimum of eight buses are operating on each of four major routes — Accra–Madina–Adenta, Accra–Achimota–Amasaman, Accra–Mallam–Kasoa, and the Accra–Tema Beach Road — from 4:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. daily.
Sector Minister Joseph Nikpe Bukari, during a press conference explained that the Ministry is temporarily redirecting suitable STC coaches to support the initiative.
“We are ensuring that we mop up all those vehicles and ensure that they are on our routes. So for now, we have identified four major corridors that we are going to deploy a minimum of eight buses to each of the corridors. We are working to ensure that we increase the number of buses so that we’ll be able to pick all our commuters home safely,” he added.
This is what has apparently informed the decision of these drivers to now reduce their fares but some of these passengers appear fed up and are not buying into their trick to entice them.
Excited about the development by government, members of the public say they will continue to join the free buses so long as they remain on the roads.
Meanwhile, some six (6) drivers have been arrested for charging unapproved fares. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA) Mayor, Nii Kpakpo Allotey is leading a taskforce and it was during one of their rounds that the arrests were made.
A page on X called ‘City of Accra’ reported that, “6 drivers arrested as Mayor of Accra leads evening taskforce over unapproved fares in Accra”.
By Gifty Boateng