Chaos on Lagos Roads
By Annette Oghenerhaboke
Monday, August 11, 2008
The closure of the Third Mainland Bridge results in several days of traffic snarl which could have been worse without BRT
Bimpe Adegoke, an applicant, would not forget the problem she went through on Monday, August 4, as a result of the partial closure of the Third Mainland Bridge in Lagos. On that day, she had left her house in Tejuosho, Surulere, at about 7:00am for a job interview scheduled for 9 o’clock. On getting to Barracks bus stop, she discovered that the traffic was heavy and vehicles moving at snail speed.
The bus stop was filled with stranded passengers and buses were not available to convey them to their various destination. After waiting for about 30 minutes, a commercial vehicle heading to Ojota stopped to drop some passengers. Adegoke was relieved but as she stepped into the bus, the conductor told her the fare was N200 as against N50. She alighted from the bus and decided to board the Bus Rapid Transit, BRT, queue that already had about 400 passengers.
Eventually, she got on a BRT bus at about 8:15 am but because of the traffic snarl between Ojuelegba and Fadeyi, she arrived at Ojota at about 8:40 am. The scenario was not different there. She waited for about 20 minutes and there were no vehicles. When it became obvious that she might miss her job interview, she opted for a commercial motorcycle ride from Ojota to Ikeja for which she paid N200.
On that same day, Lanre Adeniyi, a computer operator in Victoria Island, spent more than one hour at Barracks bus stop before he could board a motorcycle to a point. "Normally, I do board a direct vehicle to CMS from Barracks, but due to the closure of the Third Mainland Bridge, a lot of vehicles concentrated on this area thereby making it difficult for passengers to get buses. Besides, the BRT were not available to pick passengers and I was already late for work. At the end of the day, I spent N250 to the office instead of the usual N70," he said.
Adegoke and Adeniyi are just two cases of many Lagosians who suffered as a result of the partial closure of the third mainland bridge on August 2. Those who had hitherto not made use of the BRT since its introduction four months ago, have now found solace in the BRT. The hike in transport fare by commercial vehicle operators by as much as 300 percent on some routes as well as the traffic gridlock occasioned by the closure of the 18-year-old third axial bridge forced many residents of the state to abandon their vehicles at home in preference for the BRT.
The closure also meant a business boom for BRT operators. It led to long queues of commuters at the various BRT bus stops. The demand became high and many passengers could not get the BRT tickets to buy. One of the ticket sellers, who simply identified himself as Ope, said sales had increased since the third mainland bridge was closed partially. When the state government conceived the programme, it was projected that the buses would move 50,000 passengers on a daily basis.
Kola Ojelabi, public relations officer of the Lagos Metropolitan Transport Authority, LAMATA, told Newswatch that since that partial closure of the bridge, an average of 250,000 passengers use the buses on a daily basis. But before now, the average number of passengers the buses carried daily was 150,000.
In order to alleviate the suffering of the commuters, the operators of the BRT added a new fleet of 150 buses this previous week. Before then, there were 220. Some of the passengers who spoke to Newswatch commended the effort of the BRT operators and the Lagos State government for adding more vehicles to the BRT fleet.
Mary Emejoh, a staff of the Nigeria Institute of Medical Research, NIMR, Yaba, told Newswatch that though the queue was unusually long, she was pleased with the arrangement made by BRT operators. "I normally drive myself to the office but ever since the diversion from the third Mainland Bridge started, I stopped because of traffic jams. With BRT buses, there is no traffic jams ," she said.
Similarly, Modupe Awolope, a staff of Shomolu Local Government Area, told Newswatch that she spent about 50 minutes at the Ojota BRT bus stop while going to the office on August 4 due to the queue of anxious Lagosians waiting for the buses. "We were more than 400 on the queue. On my way back home in the evening, I stood for about 40 minutes at Onipanu bus stop before a bus eventually arrived. Today, the queue is longer but I did not spend up to 10 minutes before a bus arrived. This is due to the fact that more buses have been introduced into the scheme," she said.
Favour Ojiabor, a staff of JSP Communications Consultancy, said BRT tickets are still difficult to obtain. "My husband was disappointed on Monday because he could not get the BRT ticket on time. He waited endlessly at the bus stop before he eventually got a ticket," she said.
Idongesit Udoh, a staff of Data Sciences Nigeria Limited, commended the BRT operators. He said he usually passed through the Third Mainland Bridge from Ogba but since the repair work began, he has been going to the Island through Ojota to enable him board a BRT bus. "I prefer the BRT bus because it is more convenient and the conductors are polite.
The Third Mainland Bridge was partially closed on August 2 to allow for repair work on it. Several of the joints on the bridge had gone bad which makes the bridge to vibrate when two vehicle hit the joint at the same time at top speed. Borini Prono Construction Company, which is handling repair work, has promised that everything would be done to complete the job in eight weeks. Officials of the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority, LASTMA, assisted by Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, and the police are providing security on the bridge and at the same time managing the traffic gridlock.
In order to reduce traffic snarl on the road, the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, has increased the number of time it runs its mass transit scheme from Iddo to Agbado, Ogun State, from seven to ten times daily.
Newswatch learnt that the increase was to take care of large number of Lagosians wishing to make use of the Railway. The corporation also increased its fare from N70 to N100 per trip.
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