Investigation has revealed how drivers and officials of Bus Rapid Transport, BRT, in Lagos are shortchanging Lagos State government in their operation.
The payment system on all BRT routes in the state is premised on the tapping-in system in which passengers are expected to pay their fare by tapping-in a preloaded card on device mounted at the entrance of all the buses, which records the number of passengers and the amount generated on a particular trip on each buses. Once a passenger taps-in , the machine records the amount which is electronically sent to a centralised device in the company’s head of office.
This system enables the government to monitor activities of the bus drivers and account for the total amount generated by all the BRT buses on a daily basis.
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However, the drivers and officials of the buses have devised means to shortchange the government by ensuring a certain number of passengers they carry on their buses daily do not make use of the preloaded card.
They collect cash from them which are not recorded and do not go into government’s coffers, thereby making extra cash for themselves. Such passengers are usually allowed to first board at any BRT terminal before allowing passengers on the queue with the preloaded card.
One such incident occurred at the Agric terminal of the BRT on Ikorodu road at about 7.00am on July 1, 2022.
The heavy downpour in the morning had resulted in the long queue of passengers at the BRT terminal.
According to one of the passengers, Rotimi Macnobleson, who spoke with Nigerian Xpress Newspaper, the queue on the Oshodi corridor at the Agric terminal seemed very light and having felt some relief, he hoped to board the next available bus as quickly as possible.
Hear him: “Not long after I joined the queue, a bus advanced into the corridor and the passengers began to tap-in as they boarded. But then, I suddenly noticed that I had been standing at that same spot for some minutes; obviously the queue wasn’t moving forward and the bus was almost filled up. Out of curiosity, I decided to enquire from the lady standing in front of me why the queue hasn’t been moving, and the lady’s reply shocked me,” he said
According to him, the lady explained that those who were not on the queue were getting preferential treatment over those on the queue.
Hear him further, “What these BRT officials now do is that they collect 500-Naira each from many of those not on the queue. The BRT officials already know these people. These sets of people no longer tap before entering the BRT buses and they are usually the first set of people allowed into any bus. They always create some form of confusion and crisis whenever a bus advances into the corridor in order to distract those in the queue.
“Half of those inside the bus now paid cash to the BRT bus official and only half tapped in. This is what has been happening at every BRT bus terminal in Lagos now. The annoying thing is that they no longer care about what anybody wants to say. They now do it with so much impunity. Some even collect the N500 in the course of the journey not minding what those who tapped in would say. Same thing is happening at Ikorodu roundabout terminal, Agric terminal, Anthony terminal and Oshodi, as well.”
Rotimi further said the situation at the Agric terminal soon degenerated into commotion as the not-on-the-queue passengers forced their way into the bus while officials of the BRT looked away after collecting N500 cash from them without tapping-in.
” These set of not-on-the-queue passengers suddenly moved to the doorway causing commotion and forcefully pushing virtually everyone away, while the bus official pretentiously stood at a corner by the door spectating the scenario. The scenario later degenerated into a full blown fight between those not-on-the-queue and those on-the-queue, as one of those not-on-the-queue arrogantly took up those on-the-queue and also claiming right,” he said.
He added: ” Having been at the terminal for over two hours already, I didn’t hesitate to join the struggle. Notwithstanding my effort, I was obviously still the last person who gained entrance into the bus amongst those on the queue, and as expected, there was no longer a space for me to sit. The bus official tried to convince me to wait for the next bus, if I really have to sit down through the trip but suddenly I saw a vacant seat with a bag placed on it.
While I was trying to remove the bag so that I could sit, the bus official suddenly came at me, insisting the seat had been taken. He said the seat belongs to someone who was still obviously outside and had not been on the queue all along. But other passengers insisted I must be the one to occupy the seat, since the man the official reserved the seat for didn’t tap into the bus, which I eventually did.”
