Recession: Luxury bus operators hike fares

Citing rise of operational costs, luxury bus operators under the aegis of Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria (ALBON) on Sunday announced a N1,000 hike in their fares across various routes in the country.

Following the increase , passengers on Lagos-Abuja route will now pay N7,000 as against N6,000; while those on Lagos-Kano will pay N7,500 and Lagos-Port Harcourt now costs N6,200.

The association explained that the fare increase was a painful survival measure, as they appealed to the Federal Government to intervene with incentives and palliatives in order to save the industry from “imminent collapse”.

In a statement by the association’s president, Chief Dan Okemuo, it said ,the combined effects of dilapidated roads, rising costs of maintaining the vehicles and unaffordable prices of new buses, on transportation, would drive the business to the brink unless the President Muhammadu Buhari led administration comes to its members’ rescue.

By the new fare regime announced yesterday by ALBON, passengers on Lagos-Abuja route will now pay N7,000 (up from N6, 000), while those on Lagos-Kano that paid N6,500, previously, now pay N7,500. Lagos to Port Harcourt that was hitherto N5,200, is now N6,200.

“The pump price of diesel which is currently N200 as against the previous N145 per litre; a drum of lube oil that was N95,000, but now costs N147,000; and the price of petrol (that members’ mini-buses use) which is now N140 from N87 per litre.

“Equally, the price of a single tyre (for big bus) is now N144,000 as against the previous price of N85,000. As you are already aware, this sharp increase in prices is due to the current economic recession, which in turn has affected prices levels in the country.”

Okemuo who is also the chairman / MD of Dan Dollars Group, said it is “a notorious fact that some major federal roads are in terribly poor conditions,” lamenting that the situation which has not improved over the last two years, had imposed a heavy maintenance burden on the transporters due to increased wear and tear on their vehicles.

The association also pointed out that numerous others remain in frightening condition. Among them are Omotosho to Ijebu-Ode within Ondo and Ogun states on Shagamu-Benin expressway; and Ubiaja-Uromi leading to Abuja; Oyibo road, connecting Aba-Port-Harcourt road; as well as Ikot Ekpene-Itu -Udukpani road, connecting Uyo and Calabar, Enugu- Onitsha expressway; Benin section of Asaba-Benin highway and Ilorin-Mokwa-Minna-Abuja.

“Since those roads are critical link between one state and another, there is an urgent need for the Federal Government to carry out major repair work on them in order to reduce the huge maintenance burden our members are challenged as a result of the deteriorating state of the highways”. яндекс

The situation is compounded for the transporters by the effects of the current FOREX (foreign exchange) crisis coupled with the increase in import duties on commercial buses from 10 percent to 35 percent.

“Today, the cost of Fully – Built Luxury Bus (big) is N160 million as against the previous price of N65 million two years ago. Similarly, the cost of Hiace bus is now N16.5million as against the former price of N8 million. Since bus owners have over the years depended on the procurement of fully-built imported buses for the sustenance of their fleets, it is difficult for them to survive in the present circumstances,” Okemuo said.

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