Primero eyes Oshodi-Abule-Egba BRT
By Ladapo Kolade
Primero Transport Services Limited, operator of the Ikorodu hub of Bus Rapid Transit system, has set its eyes on the next prize in the Lagos commuting industry – the Oshodi-Abule-Egba BRT.
The 16.38 kilometre BRT, following the successful experiments of Ojota-Obalende and Ikorodu-Obalende, is expected to move an estimated 5million out of the 9million passengers commuting to and from home to work daily to reduce the stress posed to the Lagos traffic by private vehicles competing with mass transit for space.
According to industry sources, the Lagos Metropolitan Transportation Authority, the policy formulator and implementing agency of of the state’s 25-year transportation programme is demanding that bidders for the concession put down a minimum of 300 high capacity buses enabled with modern facilities such as air conditioners and WiFi to be considered for the contract.
By rough estimate, this translates to N22billion for the buses alone.
Other standard conditions for the concession include evidence of spare part stocks, experience in running urban transportation and compliance with state caps on fare management.
Chief Executive Officer of Primero Transport Services Limited, Mr. Fola Tinubu said the experience garnered by Primero in its operation of the Ikorodu BRT hub in the past five years puts the company in great reckoning to clinch the concession.
“People are demanding more services everyday. We have been trying to satisfy their demands though the market is tough,” he said.
One of the bumps slowing down Primero’s ability to drive customers’ satisfaction is the rate at which the revenue is not revving as fast as the expenditure.
Besides, contractual obligations such as loan payments, payment for the use of the depot and the BRT infrastructure, regular re-stocking of spare parts, diesel and two digit inflationary trend requiring injection of fresh funds, the company recently coped with demands for increases in pay by the workers.
Primero’s multiple revenue streams are mainly tickets obtained by commuters, charter operations and advertising. But the government, through LAMATA, insists it could not charge market rates like private operators because it fears a backlash from commuters may affect public support for the administration.
Still industry operators believe that the government must fund public transportation as is done in major capitals of the world.
It will be recalled that Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu inspected the on-going construction of the Oshodi-Abule-Egba BRT corridor recently and promised that the project would be ready in May.
He said this would lead to the second phase of the project that would terminate at Sango, the boundary between Lagos and Ogun State.
His words: This BRT corridor was conceived with the intention to address congestion and transportation challenges along the Oshodi-Abule Egba corridor. We are fully back on this project and we are pushing the contractor to step up the pace of work on it. Once it starts operation, this will significantly bring relief and reduce traffic congestion and transportation problems along this route.
“We are hoping that by the end of May, we should complete the entire Phase 1 of the BRT infrastructure along this route. The work has been pushed up and the entire project is about 75 percent to completion. The rest of the construction activities to be done include completion of bus shelters, rigid pavements, and terminals.”
Lagos State began the implementation of the BRT solution to public transportation challenge in 2004 during the administration of Governor Bola Tinubu. It was designed to discourage private vehicles use for daily commute by providing mass transit high capacity buses which can move more passengers per vehicle at a faster speed by using dedicated lanes.
