Over 8,000 passengers access e-ticketing on Abuja-Kaduna train service

Over 8,000 passengers on the Abuja-Kaduna train service have accessed e-ticketing just three days into the test-run of the portal.

The Federal Government, last week, announced the official commencement of the initiative this Wednesday.

Media Officer to the Minister of Transportation, Taiye Elebiyo, in a press statement, revealed that on the first day (last Wednesday) of the test booking, 1,174 passengers used the platform to purchase train tickets, on Thursday, about 3,479 passengers accessed the platform, while on Friday, January 15,3,398, pothers logged in.

The commuters, however, regretted that despite the move, ticket racketeering remained unabated.

They claimed that a limited number of seats is being made available for online booking, while over the counter purchase still holds sway.

According to them the computerised sale of tickets take up to three minutes to execute.

Stakeholders had advised the government to fine-tune the system and ensure that tickets booked online were not re-allocated besides securing the platform against antics of saboteurs and touts.

The train service, which was inaugurated for commercial operations in 2016, has witnessed racketeering and extortion of passengers, hence the need to establish an e-ticket portal

Although the purchase of tickets at train stations is still in place, the official launch of the e-ticketing platform begins this Wednesday.