Commercial drivers across the country are sticking to their guns and maintaining their fares despite a directive from the Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU) on Thursday calling for a reduction in transport fares.
The GPRTU announced a 5 percent reduction in transport fares following a drop in the price of fuel by 10 percent in December 2014.
[contextly_sidebar id=”9PSz9216LtlqCbzw9UuxyNTz3hEkDU1G”]However, Citi News checks at some bus terminals on Friday, when the directive was supposed to take effect, revealed that most drivers had not yet implemented the directive from the GPRTU.
Some divisional heads of the GPRTU who spoke to Citi News said they had not yet been notified about the directive by the top hierarchy of the union.
“We haven’t received a letter from GPRTU, because the news came just yesterday and [we only saw it this morning] in the papers. So maybe we can receive the letter either by today or tomorrow,” one of them argued.
He stated that they will review their fares when they receive official notification of the change adding that no passenger had complained about the fares so far.
“We are expecting the letter from the GPRTU before we can tell our drivers to do something about their fares. We are using the old price now, there’s no new price out. The passengers haven’t complained about prices,” he said.
However, some passengers have voiced their displeasure over the refusal of the drivers to adjust the fares as directed by the GPRTU.
“It is still the same prices that are being charged. It is unfair. They [the drivers] are not being fair to us the passengers. Once it is a national policy that there is a reduction, they should comply with it. It is a cheat. If they are not reducing it, it is a cheat,” one passenger lamented to Citi News.
By: Edwin Kwakofi/citifmonline.com/Ghana