According to the Minister for Transport, Kwaku Ofori Asiamah, about $100 million was secured as a loan from the World Bank for the BRT project,  but was not put to good use by the previous administration.

[contextly_sidebar id=”AYEm0FLOQnXJssjVgDzhZsrLaTEGF3Fp”]Speaking to Citi News after the President’s State of the Nation address, Mr. Asiamah said more Aayalolo buses will soon be deployed after the construction of a terminal at the PWD yard in the central business district of Accra.

President Nana Akufo-Addo, in his address, bemoaned the daily traffic jams and congestion in various parts of the capital, which he said was making Accra unattractive.

Mr. Ofori Asiamah also described the situation as unpardonable, and said his Ministry was working to correct the situation.

“The congestion in our city is something unacceptable which we need to work on. The World Bank gave us a loan of about $100 million for the Aayalolo buses and their attendant infrastructure. The infrastructure that they were supposed to put in place, they didn’t do it,” the Minister remarked.

He recalled that the current government had to go to “London to see HSBC, renew the loan and start the construction of the bus terminal at PWD… we cannot operate Aayalolo buses when they come to the city without having a bus terminal.”

“The dedicated bus lane that they were supposed to build from Adenta to the Central City, they have not been able to build it. Ask them where is the money,” Mr. Ofori Asiamah lamented.

The Quality Bus system (QBS), which is making use of the Aayalolo buses, was initially envisioned as part of a Bus Rapid Transport system, but the absence or lack of dedicated lanes meant it did not match up to that standard.

Most major roads to Accra have gained notoriety for having the city’s worst traffic jams.

Some of these roads include the Madina to 37 road, Circle to Achimota road, Ofankor to Pokuase road, and the Tema motorway – Tetteh Quarshie roundabout.

Efforts by previous governments to address the problem seem not to have yielded results as the traffic situation has not improved.

Some analysts have suggested a total review of the country’s transportation system with a shift from the construction of new roads to the implementation of policies that will encourage boarding of commercial buses and an efficient railway system.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He made the remark on the back of revelations that the management of the transport system is operating at a loss, eight months since it began commercial services.

“I was telling my friends on a platform; I said this thing is a joke. You need to see traffic engineers, sit them down and go through this thing holistically,” the traffic engineer said.

[contextly_sidebar id=”5wM3vcBGOJXHE6oFw0yxCBLNnEjUwxnY”]Reports indicate that, about 197 out of the 245 Aayalolo buses imported into the country for the QBS have not been used since 2016.

Only a few Ghanaians patronize the QBS, following some processes involved in accessing the buses, including the electronic payment system which many believed should be scrapped to encourage ease access to the buses.

This situation among others, has resulted in the inability of the company to earn enough to cover operational costs.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast on Wednesday over the development, the road engineer, Ing Abdullai, was skeptical about the survival of the much hyped bus system.

To him, the system was not “well thought through” before it was implemented.

“If you look at the one that they are piloting now, the Amasaman stretch to Accra; it is absolutely impossible to operate such a bus system. The terminal that they are using now is very small located in the premises of the Amasaman police station. The rapid transit system ought to work in a location where there is a very good car park. If you look at the Amasaman road to Accra, we are restricted with two new district barriers. The road doesn’t have a room to maneuver when you are coming in the morning or evening with about 4 kilometer traffic. The system is not well thought through as at now.”

“I even think the one at Adenta en route to Accra is more flexible because of the lanes and the less restriction on it. The Adenta one has similar restrictions at some small sections. Like when you get to the Legon stretch it has three lanes and one of the lanes could be restricted for the buses.”

Apart from the lack of dedicated lanes for the buses, Ing. Abdullai noted that, Ghanaians were also not ready to embrace the bus system.

“There is no discipline, the roads are not even enough for the system,” he added.

Low patronage affecting us

The Chief Executive Officer of Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive (GAPTE), Sampson Gyamenah, while addressing the media, admitted that low patronage of the bus service since it commenced business in 2016, has kept its books in the red.

“We still have a long way to go to be able to break even. We are ramping up the number of passengers and that is the real challenge. When we started the patronage was very poor. In December, we were doing an average of 1, 400 passengers a day,” he added.

Meanwhile, the State Transport Company (STC), had served notice of acquiring some of the QBS buses to augment its fleet.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show, a transport consultant, Kojo Antwi, explained that all though a small percentage of people using private vehicles occupy a large section of the road space.

Thus any programme that does not target the people in private cars cannot adequately address the problem of road congestion, Mr. Antwi said.

“The 15 percent of the people who are driving the cars are those who are occupying 85 percent of your road space. So any programme that does not target this 15 percent of the people in private cars to get them out of their cars into one form of public mass transport system or the other is failing.”

Mr. Antwi suggested that the metropolis must start gravitating towards a system “that will force people to move out of their cars and that is what has been done everywhere.”

He cited other third world cities like Bogota in Colombia and Curitiba in Brasil that had effectively tackled their congestion problems with policy.

“They put the infrastructure in place, put the system in place and then put in place punitive systems for you to drive your car. It becomes expensive to drive your car into the city centre because of congestion charges,” Mr. Anti stated.

BRT another MMT

Mr. Antwi also said the recently implemented Bus Rapid Transport system essentially mirrored the Metro Mass Transport system because it was not “rapid” in the sense of the word and had so far failed to ease congestion in the capital.

He stressed that the BRT system, which was rolled out in October 2016, must give people in private cars a reason to choose the buses over their own vehicles, but has yet been able to do so because it does not have the dedicated facilities to be considered rapid.

“An effective bus rapid system must be bus-based but it must rapid. It means that you need to have dedicated facilities; bus stops, scheduled services, ITS systems, all of that.”

“So if you have a bus system that would not be rapid and goes to sit in the same congestion as any other vehicle, then all you have done just increased the capacity of the vehicle moving people but you have not solved congestion,” Mr. Antwi explained.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Target private car owners to reduce traffic congestion – Consultant appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

Twenty eight buses are also expected to be registered today [Wednesday].

Buses not registered 

The move comes a day after the Marketing and Communications Manager of the Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive, operators of the Service, indicated that none of the buses had either been registered or insured.

The BRT transport service commenced test operations on Monday with 9 buses plying the Amasaman – Achimota – Circle –Accra route with free rides.

However operators identified challenges with the log system which provided information such as when and where passengers would alight to drivers.

Concerns over the non-registration and lack of insurance for the buses and challenges with communication between passengers and the bus drivers, forced the Managers of the service to suspend operations a day after the buses were put on the streets in a test.

Officials of the BRT system told Citi News that services were also suspended to enable them train the drivers on how to use the system to facilitate non-obstructive communication between them and passengers.

Service to be expanded

The newly introduced bus service is expected to be expanded to other parts of Accra to help commute passengers faster and more conveniently.

The bus will soon be operational on the Accra – Legon – Madina – Adenta stretch.

No dedicated lanes for ‘BRT’, it’s now Quality Bus System

Meanwhile, the Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive (GAPTE), implementers of the supposed Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) service, have given the project a new name because the buses for now do not have dedicated lanes as expected.

Speaking on Eyewitness News, the Chief Executive Officer of (GAPTE), Sampson Gyamenah, admitted there were currently no dedicated lanes, a critical element of any BRT system and instead called what was being implemented a Quality Bus System.

“We do not have a full blown dedicated lane for the buses so I will also hesitate to call what we are putting in place a BRT. It is called a Quality Bus System,” he said.

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By: Marian Ansah/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The free bus ride will be only available for passengers on one of the four routes under the BRT service – thus, Amasaman through Achimota to Circle and then to Tudu, at the Central Business District.

The project which is currently on a pilot will later be extended to other parts of the country.

Speaking to Citi News, Roland Bruce, Marketing and Communications Manager of the Greater Accra Passenger Transport Executive; implementer of the BRT service explained that the project will bring relief to Ghanaian commuters.

‘Commercial drivers threaten strike over BRT’

Some commercial drivers within the Accra metropolis earlier this month threatened to embark on strike in protest against the introduction of the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system.

The drivers, complained that the BRT will eventually drive them out of business.

‘Agitations needless’
But Roland Bruce described the protest as unnecessary.

According to him, managers of the project will collaborate with the transport unions to augment the transport services in Accra.

“Our dialogues included the transport unions, in fact, we are working with these unions. We will have a round-table with them, it is not a matter going on demonstration on this.”

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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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Some commercials in the capital, known as the Committed Drivers Association, say the introduction of the bus service threatens their source of livelihoods as they envisage being thrown out of business by the BRT service.

Public Relations Officer of the Committed Drivers Association, Francis Appiah, told Citi news it was unfair for government to introduce the service without considerations to the negative implications it would have on commercial drivers.

“We are the drivers and we know how we are suffering and have been struggling. We have children and families we feed so you can’t tell me that you are coming to give the buses [BRT] priority so that the buses use a traffic-free way and we follow traffic because of the bus”.

Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Friday, September 16, Roland Bruce, Marketing and Communications Manager of GAPTE, implementers of the BRT project, said there is no reason for commercial drivers to strike over the matter, as collaboration will be maintained with the transport unions to augment the transport services in Accra.

“Our dialogues included the transport unions, in fact, we are working with these unions. We will have a round-table with them, it is not a matter going on demonstration on this.”

“Dedicated lanes are for the buses and that needs to be understood. If any car can use it, then what is the use of it,” Roland Bruce quizzed.

The BRT service, which is being implemented under the Urban Transport Project, is expected to use some 245 buses that would ply the Accra and Amasaman, Accra and Adentan, Accra and Tema and Accra and Kasoa routes.

The project is funded by the World Bank, Agence Française de Development, government of Ghana, and the Global Environment Facility Trust Fund at a cost of $ 95 million.

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By: Jonas Nyabor/citifmonline.com/Ghana

The post Commercial drivers’ agitation over BRT system needless appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.