By Demi Adeniyi
The Lagos Bus Services Limited (LBSL) has moved no fewer than 53 million passengers in the last five years, the agency’s Managing Director Mr. Idowu Oguntona has said.
The LBSL chief said the company in the last two months, have moved no fewer than two million people, while 1,880 drivers are engaged by the agency with 10 per cent of them being females.
Reeling out the statistics at a recent media parley organised by the Lagos State Ministry of Transportation, Oguntona said, the company which is coordinating the bus assets of the state government has assisted in alleviating the transportation challenges in the state.
According to Oguntona, the company’s core mandate is to provide modern, safe and reliable public buses for Lagosians, and ensuring a seamless cashless operation of the multi-modal integrated public transportation using the Cowrie Card for fare payment.
At present, Oguntona explained that the company had about 300 buses, which are deployed to all the local government areas in the state.
He also said the LBSL planned to expand its vehicles fleet from the current 300 units to 500 by 2030, even as he disclosed plans to ensure the injection of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles in line with the Federal Government’s energy transition policy.
According to him: “Our service is all-inclusive and everybody can benefit from it. What have we done in the last two months – May 2024 till date, is that we have moved about two million Lagosians. We also have a well-equipped training school where all our drivers are trained from minimal to advanced level.
“We have been able to train about 1,600 Lagosians, giving them necessary driving skills and all of them right now are employed. Between May and now, we have trained about 20 people. We tailored our programme towards Lagos State Action Plan. We have also developed Vision: 2030, which is to provide environmental-friendly vehicles for Lagosians.
“Between now and 2030, the company should scale up to 500 buses, with some of them running on renewable energy; Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and electric. We are very much in compliance with the T.H.E.M.E.S Agenda by ensuring that we provide public transportation that can compare with any found in any modern city in the world.”
Oguntona said the LBSL is determined to continue to make all the state’s rolling assets especially buses serviceable so as to ensure they continue to provide premium service to members of the public.
He commended Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu for his dogged determination and commitment to the THEMES Agenda through which he has improved and expanded government’s investments in the transportation sector significantly.
Also speaking at the event, the General Manager, Lagos State Traffic Management Agency (LASTMA), Mr. Olalekan Bakare-Oki, said the agency impounded 9,370 vehicles, with more than half of them being commercial buses (Danfos) in the first half of the year 2024.
According to the LASTMA Chief, contrary to the perception from members of the public that commercial buses are immune from arrest, about 5,101 buses were impounded within the six months period.
According to him, the authority recorded 517 accidents between January and June, stressing that 440 of such accidents were minor with 256 casualties. He said beyond traffic management, LASTMA usually conduct training and retraining for all cadre of officers and men of LASTMA, while also offering similar trainings for fleet operators on emotional intelligence, leadership skills, advanced traffic management and traffic control and others.
“These are parts of the trajectory to reposition the agency for a better service delivery. On July 9, 2024, the agency commissioned a whistle-blowing app, introduced a toll free line and also upgraded our research department,” Bakare-Oki said.