By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Transportation overhaul plans are in top gear in Lagos that will see minibuses replace motorcycle and tricycle taxis and phase out private bus operators in a new system managed by a corporation.
Lagos State Transport Commissioner, Fredrick Oladeinde, said for the megacity to remain ahead of competition, it needs a modern trimodal transport structure to cater for a population of 22 million expected to surge to 35 million in 2030.
The upgrade, he disclosed at a webinar organised in Lagos by the Cyno Group, will involve road, rail, and water transport.
Oladeinde explained, per reporting by Nairametrics, that the plan is to reform the bus sector by dividing Lagos into seven zones with “bucket of routes” franchised to regulated operators.
Phase out of private bus operators
Part of the reform is to move transportation business from “one bus owner” to a corporation that will run bus transportation in Lagos.
The reform has started with Primero and has also brought in TSL, and then over time will ramp up, Oladeinde enthused.
“For the Danfo drivers, the plan is to get them to form a cooperative. The NURTW [National Union of Road Transport Workers] has formed a cooperative called ‘Amalgamated’ and so that will now become an entity that we will give a franchise to,” he added.
“The population of Lagos would rise to 35 million in the next ten years, generating 40 million trips daily, and currently, 97 per cent of transportation is on road.
“It’s important that we diversify the trips that we make. Of the trips that we make, 13.2 million that we make today are public transport trips, of which Danfo (buses) cater for 80 per cent – not a good story.”
According to him, the solution to the perennial traffic congestion in Lagos is the development of a rapid mass transport system that includes rail, BRT [Bus Rapid Transit], and water.
Okada, tricycles not part of plan
“The Last Mile will take the place of Okadas and tricycles, it will take you into the inner community and into the inner roads, and these are what we call the local government roads. So we are launching a set of buses in the next one month.
“We got a private investor to set up a plant. They’ve started manufacturing some of the buses here.
“We have another investor that is coming and this government has invested in about 2,000 last mile buses and we are ramping it up to 5,000 in 2021,” Oladeinde said.
Waterways
“The water terminals will be linked to a bus station, so that as you get off the terminal, you are able to board your bus and get to your final destination.”
More roundabouts to be reconfigured
More roundabouts and road junctions are to be reconfigured to solve perennial traffic gridlock and reduce travel time across the state.
His words: “At the current population of 22 million, you will discover that most of our roundabouts are now bottlenecks; rather than solving problems, they are now creating problems.”
“And what the current administration has done is to locate all the 60 gridlock points, that is the roundabouts and junctions that are causing problems and what we are doing is to reconfigure most of them.
“We are now moving further to Abraham Adesanya, which is another choke point, and we’ve taken out that roundabout and in the next one month we will complete it.
“That will complement the Jubilee Bridge that was developed around Sangotedo, Ajah area.”