In pursuit of its resolve to ease travel within
the metropolis, the Lagos State government in
conjunction with LAGBUS Asset Management
Limited, one of the operators of the Bus Rapid
Transport, on Tuesday launched 100 air-
conditioned, WIFI Internet-enabled buses.
The new buses, which are called Metro Bus,
and are expected to ply the Sango-Oshodi,
Obalende- Ikorodu, and Island –Epe routes,
will hit the road soon.
The buses are expected to be increased to
1800 servicing 47 routes within the metropolis
and are aimed to provide comfort and safety
as well as reduce time spent commuting.
LAGBUS has also introduced innovations such
as the ability of commuters to check the
arrival time of the bus by sending sms to a
specialised number.
“There would be security camera on board to
ensure safety of passengers. The live feeds
from the cameras will be made available to
security agencies to be able to track any
mishap. Customers can also use WIFI on the
buses as well as enjoy videos and music on the
go” , said Niyi Oguntoyinbo, the managing
Director of Metro Bus.
The buses are expected to provide 1,500
direct jobs and 5,000 other jobs for agents
selling the preloaded cards.
Speaking at the Lagos State Traffic
Management Authority Yard, Oshodi, the state
Governor, Babatunde Fashola, said the
provision of the buses is in line with the
multimodal transport system, which include
road rail and water, driven by the private
sector.
“Government did not own the BRT buses; it
was private sector that owned them. Our job
was to build the roads, the bus shelters to
maintain and manage them while they ran their
buses but that environment at the time they
were borrowing money at One Dollar at 118
Naira and interest rate at 10 per cent has
changed completely,” he said.
“They agreed and bought the first set of buses.
They took loans, paid off the loans,
recapitalized but again the environment in
which they invested then has changed
substantially.”
The buses are a welcome development as it
would help ease pressure on the overused and
mostly rickety BRT buses.
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