Restriction: LAGBUS franchisee begs Ambode to save their investment

LAGBUS Franchisee Forum, the operators of high-capacity red buses in Lagos, on Monday appealed to Governor Akinwunmi Ambode to save their investment from ruin following the government’s prohibition of their services on the Bus Rapid Transit corridor.
The Chairman of the forum, Role Odukale, made the appeal at a news conference in Lagos.
Odukale, who spoke on behalf the 17 operators of LAGBUS franchisee, said that the development would not only kill their business, but also bring hardship to residents of the state.
Odukale said: “For us, it is the people that will suffer as evident today across bus stops in Lagos.
This situation will add to our woes, we will not be able to meet up with our bank obligations because we borrowed money from banks.
“What this means is that few buses will be available to serve over 20 million residents of the state.
“It is important to know that about 5,000 people we engage in our services will lose their jobs.
“This directive should be reversed.
“The step taken by the government to restrict red buses from plying the BRT corridor will bring monopoly into the system, which can lead to exploitation.
“Our investment is huge, let the government save our businesses and the people.
“None of us has less than 20 buses and a depot each, no one has invested less than N300 million.
“More than N5 billion investment is in danger.
“We have about 1,200 buses in this investment.”
The chairman said that the restriction would also affect foreign investment into the country, adding LAGBUS operation was just like a social services to the people.
Odukale said: “We started operations since February 2007 and we maintained the same fare up till date in spite of the increase in the prices of diesel and maintenance.
“We also use our buses to carry people free at every festive season.
“We also pay royalty on every passenger to the state government in advance, even before picking the passengers.
“What we are doing is more or less a social service.”
The state government on Monday commenced restriction of LAGBUS branded buses from plying the BRT dedicated corridor along the Ikorodu-CMS route.
The government also prohibited LAGBUS buses from picking and dropping passengers along the Western Avenue as well as on board ticketing on LAGBUS buses, which led to the suspension of LAGBUS operations across routes.