Yuletide: Travellers Lament Rising Cost of Transportation

Travellers from Lagos to other parts of the country, particularly the south east, have complained of the rising cost of bus fares.

A N6,800 bus ticket to Owerri, the Imo State capital, has risen to around N13,000. The rise, which has become a usual occurrence yearly has been greeted with complaints by travellers who hope to spend the yuletide with their friends and loved ones.

A lady, who identified herself simply as Chisom, told Newsbreak.ng that she was told the fare is N14,000 and N10,000 each for each of her bags.

“This is crazy, how can I pay N14,000 for fare and another N10,000 each for my luggage? It is unreasonable and very inconsiderate, am I supposed to travel without my luggage?

“I don’t even know what to do with this situation, spending more than N30,000 just to transport myself and luggage to Onitsha is not realistic.” she said.

However, JohnKennedy Uboch, another passenger at EFEX transport said he was not surprise as it is usually like that every year.

“I don’t think it is unusual for price of transportation to rise this season, the price of everything goes up at this period. There’s hardly an item you want to purchase this season that hasn’t increased in price.” he said.

Another passenger, Mercy, added that bus companies were running short of vehicles to convey passengers as the number of travellers had risen astronomically.

“I’ve been here for more than 2-hours, when paying there was a bus in the garage only for us to realise it was going to Owerri and not Aba. After paying so much, it is unfair to still keep us waiting, they didn’t tell us Aba bus was unavailable at the point of payment.

“They said the bus is coming for the past two hours but we are yet to see the bus not to talk of loading. And I have a small child, so I can’t afford to break my journey, if not would have joined the bus going to Owerri,” she said.

Officials of some transport companies, who spoke to our correspondent, however, said the fares would rise further by Friday as the final rush to celebrate Christmas with friends and families would begin.