Lagos BRT Buses now gasping for breath

According to a report by Lanre Odukoya of Thisday newspaper the BRT buses are no longer what they used to be.Kicking off as one of the most structured and seamless road transport systems in this part of the world, it was easy for several thousands of commuters to hop into crisp and near-luxury BRT buses in Lagos, knowing well that they had no gridlock to worry about. But conditions not stringent in the traditional sense of the word were introduced; board with your tickets only, no hawking on board, no standing or loitering on the aisle, no preaching or campaigning and no smoking. And the punishment is just as mild as the few don’ts earlier listed; adhere to the simple boarding rules or get ejected, especially in cases where coercion is inevitable. In operation were the red and blue buses, operated by different companies – LAGBUS and the Lagos NURTW First BRT Co-operative Society.
The state of the buses and their dedicated BRT lanes have suddenly become appalling to say the least. Things are sadly assuming the downward trend for what had hitherto brought passengers glimmers of hope. Facts from the streets bare the truth about what is currently obtainable less than seven years after the inception. In the words of Dayo Odulaja, a resident of Lagos: “The BRT buses were introduced as a better means of transportation but looking at it once more a few years down the line, it is difficult to rate it better than what was available before its coming. Aside the promise of a novel manner of commuting around the Lagos metropolis; that buses will arrive at the designated terminals in five minutes interval have not been kept. Beyond those points and perhaps the worse of the lot is the seeming lack of capacity to maintain the buses as the case should be. This has left some of them almost rickety as the popular 911 buses widely referred to as ‘Molue’ in those days. The truth is that no matter what the ever-active propaganda machinery of the government would say, the scheme has refused to justify the hype and standing accorded to it, let alone the evidently massive investment.”  In terms of sanity on board, Nkem Isichei maintains that “it is impossible to have the kind of sanity you get when you’re on board anywhere abroad. We still get so many standing passengers when the buses are already filled to capacity. They almost sometimes suffocate us in the quest for getting tickets sold at all cost.” Without sounding injurious to the scheme which gained this prominence on the assumption that it would salvage the horrific experiences of commuters, it is sad enough to know that some of the buses now pack up on the highways because they are not well maintained. Some operate with broken windows. Or how else do we rationalize the use of white broken plastic chairs to replace damaged seats in some of these vehicles?Click here to read more


Culled from Thisday