Flourishing trotro enterprises, matters arising

In the early 2000s, Ghanaian commuters experienced a revived public transportation system through the introduction of high-density buses to run intra-city services. 

That was the time the government deregulated the petroleum markets with subsequent soaring costs of petroleum products, affecting everything and shrinking the living standards of the Ghanaians.

For the first time, most adults and children alike caught glimpses of double-decker buses (Anti Dedee) plying the roads.

The buses were well patronised.

The fares were highly subsidised and children of school-going age boarded the buses free of charge.

The operators were trained and commuters were procided official channels to ventilate their grievances if any. In fact, this new transportation system was a boon to commuters.

There were other mass transport systems managed by entities such as the Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and Progressive Transport Owners Association (PROTOA).

However, third-party acephalous operators known as “Waawaa” ventured into the space and flourished when the public-run mass system began to suffer declension from the government’s neglect.

The “Waawaa” (without a station) trotros have appeared to fill the gap opened by the run-down official system.

Nonetheless, some bad practices of the operators on the roads need to be mentioned for the government’s intervention. 

In a society like ours where everything, whether bad or good, man-made or self-inflicted, is attributed to the corridors of government, the good citizen must find ways into the authorities’ audience in the hope that solutions will quickly come to help.

Nowadays, the acephalous operators have compounded the hardships of the Ghanaian commuter through the unacceptable practices which they indulge in.

They charge arbitrary fares and extort money from the public with impunity. 

For example, the approved fare that a commuter should pay from Ejisu to Kumasi is GH¢7.

However, in rush hours, the extortionate operators deliberately break the distance into pieces (short-short) and charge the commuter going to Adum for each point the operators stop.

In the Ejisu example, they stop at Tech Junction and also at the Anloga Junction before they arrive at Adum, mostly carrying the same commuters. Thus, the passenger is compelled to pay triple the approved fare.

Similar circumstances befall commuters in Accra who decide to go to Lapaz or Dodowa, etc.

To compound the challenge of extortion in the public transport space, operators have labelled some ‘trotros’ as ‘straight’, which means that a person boarding the ‘straight trotro’ pays the cost of the fare from point A to B, even if he or she alights halfway through the journey.

All that leaves the commuter stranded and shortchanged.

Without a doubt, the increasing numbers of the youth in the cities find their daily bread in this area of work. It is said that the devil finds a job for the idle hand, so creating an opportunity for the youth in this space is worthwhile.

However, we should watch out for excesses in the sector.

I urge the government through the Ministry of Transport to quickly arrest this canker.

The Motor Traffic and Transport Department of the Ghana Police Service must intervene to check this.

Emmanuel Owusu-Yaw,
Ghana Post,
GPO, Accra.
E-mail: emmanuelyawowusu10@gmail.com