Hundred of passengers heading to their various offices on Lagos Island using the Lagos Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) initiative were on Thursday stranded over a scarcity of buses caused by the shortage of fuel supply for running of the bus.
The scarcity which cut across the routes operated by the BRT buses was most pronounced on the Abule -Egba – Obalende route.
At the Sbule-Egba BRT park, many BRT buses under Primero, one of the franchise holders running the initiative, were seen parked with no driver inside them.
According to some of the passengers, the BRT buses that were parked had no fuel in them. A cross-section of the passengers who spoke with the Nigerian Tribune explained that the scenario has been on since Tuesday.
“We have been finding it difficult to get BRT buses to CMS and Obalende since on Tuesday. We heard that these buses that are parked here without drivers don’t have fuel in them because their owners are owing their fuel suppliers, who in turn cut off fuel supply to the buses.
“it’s unfortunate that this new initiative is already experiencing hitches. How long will this persist? Only God knows,” some of the passengers told the Nigerian Tribune.
When contacted, the spokesperson of the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), Mr Kolawole Ojelabi confirmed that one of the service providers, Primero is owing fuel suppliers.
In his words, “The authority is working towards providing buses to fill the gap created by Primero.
“This has been on since Tuesday. Due to issues with its fuel suppliers, some BRT buses operated by Primero don’t have fuel supply. Primero runs a sizeable number of BRT buses, and that is why the lack of fuel supply to their buses is affecting commuters.
“We have however sent some other buses managed by other franchise holders to fill in the gap. The issue should be resolved soon.”
Recall that the Lagos State government had in August 2020 launched the 13.68km Oshodi-Abule Egba Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) corridor supervised by LAMATA. Until now, the initiative had brought a breath of fresh air to intra-state movement within the state.