50% fare slash: Luxury bus owners increase trips as more travellers throng parks

More travellers heading to their country homes for the yuletide and end-of-the-year festivities have thronged luxury bus parks especially in Lagos to enjoy the Federal Government’s 50 percent fare slash offered on inter-state travels.

In response to this, the Association of Luxury Bus Owners of Nigeria (ALBON) has announced an increase in the number of scheduled trips on the Lagos-South East and Lagos-South South routes which will last until the end of the Christmas/New Year season.

This, it stated, was in response to the complaints of insufficient capacity to address the upsurge in the number of passengers on the affected routes.

The 50 percent fare slash on inter-state travels was last week approved by President Bola Tinubu for the Yuletide season.

A press statement by ALBON President, Mr. Nonso Ubajaka, and the Honorary Secretary, Mr. Frank Nneji, obtained on Monday disclosed that the Lagos-South-East and Lagos-South South routes had been witnessing an unprecedented increase in passengers since the commencement of the Presidential palliative.

The statement said there had been a sharp rise in the frequency of luxury bus departures from the popular Terminal 1 inter-state public motor park at Oshodi in Lagos as Lagosians were determined to take advantage of President Tinubu’s 50 percent fare palliative to travel to various destinations for the Yuletide season.

At the well lit Terminal 1 on Saturday, December 28, it was discovered that more people preferred to travel with the night buses as passengers thronged the various luxury bus transport companies’ booths to obtain their tickets at half the current fares.

A huge crowd of passengers was reported at the Oshodi Transport Interchange. They queued to obtain the rebate tickets even as others positioned their luggages for loading ahead of boarding.

The buses offering the special fares bore banners with bold inscriptions informing travellers that the gesture was a “Presidential Palliative” passed through the luxury bus owners umbrella body.

Despite large presence of intending passengers at the terminal, there was no stampede or breakdown of law and order as earlier reported by some online fake news platforms.

Checks at the various booths even on Sunday morning showed that a discounted fare of N23,500, which is half of the current N47,000 was being collected from the intending passengers for trips to eastern destinations like Onitsha, Owerri and Umuahia.

The high demand for the cheaper tickets has led to a situation where intending travellers throng the terminal hours ahead of night departures, while many others spend the night there to be able to pay for the discounted fare and board the early morning buses.

Some of the member-companies of the Association of the Luxury Bus Association of Nigeria (ALBON) seen selling the rebate tickets at the terminal are Evergreen Express, Okeyson Transport, Ifeanyichukwu Transport, Izuchukwu Transport, God Bless Ezenwata and Gobison Transport.

Just before departure on Saturday night, some of the passengers on board an Evergreen luxury bus going to Aba who paid N23,500 each, expressed their gratitude to President Tinubu for the fare palliative.

One of them said, ”This is the best Christmas gift anyone can get. I had given up hope of travelling home this season due to the high fares until I heard that the luxury bus transporters are partnering with the Federal Government to sell tickets at half the prices.”

Similarly, some excited Aba-bound passengers on board an Okeyson luxury bus confirmed that they benefited from the 50 percent discount, and thanked the President for subsidising Christmas season travels through the luxury bus transporters.

While an Izu Chukwu bus was seen departing to Asaba, another one belonging to Ezenwata was seen boarding Aba passengers all of whom were visibly excited that they could benefit from the “Tinubu’s palliative.”

Expressing their gratitude to the Federal Government for relieving them of the burden of high transport fares at a time of economic difficulties in Nigeria, most of them appealed for an extension of the January 5, 2025 end date, even as others hope for a similar gesture during the 2025 Christmas season.

“I am happy that I am travelling with my children with the 50 percent tickets. The President has done well, and pray he does it again next Christmas, so that poor people can travel home to meet their relations,” said a Gobison passenger, who disclosed that he and his family were also beneficiaries in 2023.

The leadership of ALBON last week commended President Tinubu for approving the subsidy on Yuletide trips.