Godfred Abulbire, General Secretary of the Ghana Private Transport Union (GPRTU, has disclosed that, his members are disgruntled over the non-increment of transport fares.

According to him, although the Union held a meeting with the transport minister last Wednesday, they “did not conclude”.

“So, at that meeting, the minister suggested we come back last Friday, but we all thought that Friday would have been a busy day for us. So, we, the operators suggested to the minister that we will prefer tomorrow Wednesday for us to conclude.

“We know every Monday is a busy day for every office holder. So, we reschedule tomorrow Wednesday to hold the final discussion and then come out with our lorry fare margin that we have to increase”.

Commenting on whether the Union will hold on to their decision in increasing the transport fares, Mr. Abulbire intimated that, the Transport Minister advised the Union to be cautious in the price margins.

“The Minister for Transport said that, whereas we are vying to get a higher margin for our members, we should also be mindful of the [travelling] public who are our customers; they put us in business. If the margin is beyond what they can afford, then the tendency is that, it will reduce the passenger turnout and it will affect our business. So, whatever action we are going to [take], it will rest in our hand to putus in business.

“So, we are mindful of what he [Transport minister] said. We are still going to do further negotiations, but this time round, we’ll be looking at what margin will please our members and please our customers who will be coming to us”.

Transport fare negotiations

Additionally, Mr. Abulbire indicated that, the Union’s plea for increment is predicate on incessant increase in fuel prices. This, he noted, has caused an increase in other pertinent areas in their operation such as insurance.

“We started from somewhere and we were asking for lorry fare based on certain increment on DVLA fees and insurance and the spare parts. All of a sudden, the budget proposals came. So we had to put [it] on hold and said that we were going to wait for the approval of the budget. That was done, I went forward again for another negotiation and we were told that, the fuel per what the budget has [designated] might even go higher by a new fare.

“We went back again and within two or three days, you all witnessed that it was reduced again to 9 pesewas instead of the 17 pesewas. So, the unstable situation of the whole matter, is making us not to push so hard to get it done and we go tomorrow and we agree, within the next five days, the fuel price goes up to [seventy pesewas]”.

Some drivers increase transport fare

Touching on the mood among members of the Union, Mr. Abulbire noted that, his members are unhappy about the situation.

That notwithstanding, he opined that some drivers have already gone ahead in reviewing the prices of transport fare.

Addressing concerns over some drivers increasing transport fares, Mr. Abulbire insisted that these drivers operating are not part of a Union.

“The situation is that, our members are not happy with the current situation. If we go there and we don’t get a decision tomorrow… then we come back and take another decision before we go back to them.

h“There are others too who have formed themselves into transport groups and they speak louder than us; and advocating for even 40% lorry fare increment. But we are saying that, our actions are going to be felt by almost every travelling public in Ghana. That is why, we are a bit cautious”.