Minister of Transportation,
Rotimi Amaechi, says Federal Government may increase the transport fares of the
rail services on the Abuja-Kaduna route following the inauguration of 10 new
luxurious coaches.
Ameachi said this in a chat with
State House correspondents after a closed door meeting with President Muhammadu
Buhari in the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Tuesday.
According to him, already,
commuters have agreed that the cost of transportation to Kaduna via the rail
service is a bit too cheap.
The Minister, who said he
discussed the inauguration of the 10 new coaches and two locomotives with the
President, revealed that the new coaches would be inaugurated on Thursday.
“The president is pleased with
the arrangement because basically we will then be able to discharge the
passengers pressure that we have had; that is why you have ticket racketeering.
“When demand outstrips supply
then you see all sorts of attempts to cheat the passengers.
“There are two things I know the
president likes. I have mentioned one, the second one, is after commissioning
even the passengers agree that the cost of transportation to Kaduna via the
railway is a bit too cheap.
“So there will be a need to
increase the price and then there will be more comfort.
“More comfort in the sense that
when you have excess seats multiplied by the number of passengers that will
come, then anybody that wants to racketeer will have to eat the tickets
himself,’’ he added.
He stated that the new coaches,
when inaugurated, would bring the total number of coaches to 14 on the
Kaduna-Abuja route.
According to the minister, one of
the locomotives will be dedicated to direct trip from Kaduna to Abuja non-stop
(that should be doing 1hr:15 or 1hr:20 minutes non-stop).
He said this would enable those
“living in Kaduna and working in Abuja to actually come to work on time. If you
leave at 6.00a.m by 7:15a.m, 7:20a.m you should be in Abuja.’’
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Is this man well at all? How can anyone say the fare is too cheap when there is so much poverty in Nigeria. Mtschew
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