• Passengers seek extension of palliative
The Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria (ALBON) has announced an increase in the number of scheduled trips on the Lagos-Southeast and Lagos-Southwest routes, which will last until the end of the Christmas/New Year celebrations.
This is in response to the complaints of insufficient capacity to address the surge in the number of passengers on the affected routes following the implementation of a 50 per cent fare slash on inter-state travel approved by President Bola Tinubu.
A statement by ALBON President, Nonso Ubajaka and Secretary, Frank Nneji, disclosed that the Lagos-Southeast and Lagos-Southwest routes have been witnessing an unprecedented increase in passengers since the implementation of the presidential palliative commenced.
Meanwhile, there has been a sharp rise in the frequency of luxury bus departures from the popular Terminal 1 inter-state public motor park at Oshodi in Lagos, as Nigerians take advantage of the fare palliative to travel to various destinations for yuletide.
At Terminal 1 on Saturday, December 28, the number of people travelling on night buses increased as passengers thronged the various luxury bus transport companies’ booths to obtain their tickets at half the current fares.
The Guardian witnessed a huge crowd of travellers at the Oshodi Transport Interchange who jostled to obtain tickets even as others handed their luggage for loading ahead of boarding.
The buses offering the special fares bore banners with bold inscriptions informing travellers that the gesture was a “presidential palliative” passed on by the luxury bus owners.
It was, however, observed that despite the large presence of travellers at the terminal, there was no stampede or breakdown of law and order as earlier reported by some online news platforms.
Checks at the various booths even on Sunday morning showed that a discounted fare of N23,500, which is half of the current N47,000 fare was being collected from the intending passengers for trips to eastern destinations like Onitsha, Owerri and Umuahia.
The high demand for cheaper tickets has led to a situation where intending travellers throng the terminal hours ahead of night departures, while many others spend the night there to be able to pay the discounted fares and board the early morning buses.
Some of the member companies of the ALBON seen selling the rebate tickets at the terminal included Evergreen Express, Okeyson Transport, Ifeanyichukwu Transport, Izuchukwu Transport, God Bless Ezenwata and Gobison Transport.
Just before departure on Saturday night, some of the passengers on board an Evergreen luxury bus going to Aba who paid N23,500 each, expressed their gratitude to Tinubu for the fare palliative.
One of them who gave his name as Anthony Uba, said: “This is the best Christmas gift anyone can get. I had given up hope of travelling home this season due to the high fares until I heard that the luxury bus transporters are partnering with the Federal Government to sell tickets at half the prices.”
Similarly, some excited Aba-bound passengers on board an Okeyson luxury bus confirmed that they benefited from the 50 per cent discount and thanked the President for subsidising Christmas season travel costs.
While an Izu Chukwu bus was seen departing for Asaba, another one belonging to Ezenwata was seen boarding Aba passengers all of whom were visibly excited that they could benefit from the “Tinubu’s palliative.”
However, while expressing their gratitude to the Federal Government for relieving them of the burden of high transport fares at a time of economic difficulties in Nigeria, most of them appealed for an extension of the January 5, 2025, end date, even as others hoped for a similar gesture during the 2025 Christmas season.
“I am happy that I am travelling with my children with the 50 per cent tickets. The President has done well, and pray he does it again next Christmas so that poor people can travel home to meet their relatives,” said a Gobison passenger, who disclosed that he and his family were also beneficiaries in 2023.
The leadership of ALBON had last week commended President Tinubu for approving the subsidy on Yuletide trips, which, they said, would relieve the travelling public of the burden of high fares occasioned by rising costs of vehicle maintenance.
