BY BENSON OKOBI-ALLANAH
FROM one bus stop to the other, it is not the same story as one sees different bus conductors on the same route, Asaba-Onitsha, calling different transport fares for the same journey and length of route to be covered.
The popular Asaba-Onitsha bus commercial bus drivers and their conductors, in their 18 seater bus, tell intending passengers to be armed with their transport fares ranging from N800 on a good day when there is no much hold-up, to N1, 500 or N2, 000 when there is real traffic jam on the ever-busy Asaba-Benin Expressway, that are always occasioned by the failed portions of the road.
Asaba and Onitsha are two cities separated by the first Niger Bridge which some people financially strapped; walk through on foot into both cities because of its short length. Yet, the journey into both cities from either ends attract obnoxious transport fares that more often than not shift upward rather than shifting backward.
Despite the short distance between the communities, Asaba-Onitsha commercial bus drivers’ charge transport fares, they deem fit that will be commensurate to the man and travel hours that will be lost in the hold-up they are trapped in. The transport fares they charge is always on the high side even when there is no cause to jerk up such transport fares.
Chidobe Ngubuikem, 38, is a bus conductor cum driver because he at times drives when he is not conducting the bus.
According to him, there is no fixed transport fare paid by passengers going either to Asaba from Onitsha, or from Asaba to Onitsha. ‘We charge anything that comes into our mind. But that arrangement has to be between the driver and the conductor so that we are not seen as giving different charges. We don’t look at what the others are charging even if we are all bound for the same route.
‘Four major things are responsible for these high transport fares. There is the high cost of fuel, the hold-up we face nearly on daily basis, and the resultant man and travel hours lost, and the dire need to meet up with the balance we and the owners of the bus agreed on to be remitted.’
A commuter, who commutes from Onitsha to Asaba on daily basis, except on Sundays, Miss. Adlyn Nwanokwa, says there is no basis for the outrageous transport fares being charged passengers indiscriminately, saying for whatever reason, the transport fare from Asaba to Onitsha and vice-versa, should not be more than N300, because of the short distance between both cities.
Is it not the bridge that separates Asaba and Onitsha? Why the high transport fare we are subjected to by the Asaba –Onitsha bus drivers? Even if they buy fuel at N950 per a liter, is that the reason why they should be charging as much as N1, 500 to N2, 000 for a short journey like Asaba to Onitsha? Even if they face the worst hold-up, I’m sure it will not be as much as that of Lagos where commuters have to stay in such hold-ups for as much as four to five hours without vehicles moving at all. Yet, these Lagos commercial drivers that ply long distances do not charge transport fares that are outrageous, they do not charge to dry up passengers’ pocket.
Another commuter, a serving Corper, Miss. Promise Maduabuchi, who comes from Nkwele-ezunaka in Oyi local government of Anambra State, to Asaba, where she has her Primary Place of Assignment (PPA), says it is not easy footing the transport fares because of the outrageous nature of the fares she, like other passengers, pays. ‘One is not sure of the transport fare to be paid next as they, these commercial bus drivers and their conductors charge outrageously. What you paid while going is most likely not to be the transport fare to be paid as you commute back to your base. It is not fixed as they (the drivers and their conductors) charge leaking holes into commuters’ pockets. And it is not that easy getting accommodation in Asaba, as it is expensive; otherwise, I would have relocated to the town. She said.
Most times, despite the hair-raising and repulsive-prone transport fares collected from commuters, these shylocks of drivers and their conductors end up not taking them to their desired destinations, as they turn them (thesepassengers) as handover materials to Okada operators who wait for them at both ends of the bridge head, the Asaba and Onitsha ends, then like people in a baton exchange race, collect the baton from the commercial bus drivers and subject the helpless commuters to another round of outrageous transport fares. It has now become the adopted and accepted means of transportation in Asaba, the rapidly burgeoning and sprawling capital city of Delta State, and Onitsha, the commercial nerve center of Anambra State.’ She pointed out.
A bus conductor, looking as unkempt as the bus he conducts, that goes by the name, Okey, says in pidgin English and Igbo languages that he and his boss, the driver, believed to be the owner of the 18-seater commercial bus that plies Asaba to Onitsha and vice versa, says much as he pities the helpless commuters over the outrageous transport fares they are subjected to, that they the commercial bus operators are equally faced with the challenges of buying the premium motor spirit (petrol) at varied prices, meaning that the prices the product is sold to them is not fixed and controlled, advising the federal government to set the record straight by fixing the actual price petrol could be bought at the filling stations to avoid this idea of selling at different prices. It is what makes us to be charging passengers anyhow. If government can reduce the price of petrol, why not, we can as well reduce the transport fare. Asaba to Onitsha is not far at all. Is it not only the Niger Bridge that separates the two cities? People trek to both cities on foot. But because of the high cost of petrol, the hold-ups we experience every time on the Asaba and Onitsha road, due to the failed portions on the Asaba end of the Asaba/Onitsha Expressway that robs of us of reasonable hours we would have used in making additional trips we then charge passengers beyond what they are supposed to pay in order to make our money. It is not our fault. Most of us are on hire purchase. The federal government should do something fast before the whole thing goes out of hand completely. ‘’Okey advised.
Another Asaba/Onitsha bus driver who loads at the Igbuzor junction (inside town), who pleaded not to have his name mentioned, lamented the hardships Nigerians have been subjected to by the President Tinubu administration. He says until something is done to assuage the situation, many Nigerians will continue to wallow in abject penury, saying himself as a commercial driver in spite of the outrageous prices they charge, hardly feed well, not to talk of his children.
