The Lagos State Government has suspended the planned increment in the ticket fee paid by commercial drivers.
The state government had recently announced an increment in the ticket fees paid by commercial drivers from N600 to N800 per trip – a development that generated controversy as many drivers described the fee as too high.
Giving an update on this, a director in the state Ministry of Transportation, Mrs Bola Ogunlola, said the hike had been put on hold as discussions were still ongoing.
She said when the ticket fee was increased, it became a problem along the Badagry axis.
“So, because of that, the state government suspended it and said they want to go back to the drawing table and discuss further. So, the implementation has stopped,” she added.
According to her, rather than having a situation whereby the drivers pay at every bus stop, the state government has decided to come up with an amount the driver can pay at once.
Ogunlola said, “What I understand about the ticketing is that rather than for them to pay the union fee at every bus stop, what we are trying to do is to streamline the payment so that all the stakeholders will have their own share; the stakeholders include the union.
“For instance, if a vehicle loads from Badagry to Okokomaiko, you will observe that there are lots of payments to make. If they calculate what they pay, it’s far more than N800. But with this arrangement, when they issue you this ticket, it covers all those other payments. So, rather than paying at every bus stop, let us put the money together and pay it at once.”
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