Bringing back glorious days of Inter-City STC

Public transportation is a crucial part of the solution to the nation’s economic, energy and environmental challenges.

In increasing numbers, people are using public transportation and local communities are expanding public transit services. Individuals, families, communities and businesses all benefit from public transportation.

At the individual level, public transport saves money and provides people with choices, freedom and opportunities.

A good public transport system must be easy and convenient to use, fast, safe, clean and affordable. 

Public transport is thus important for improving sustainable mobility in urban areas and it is considered the right approach to encourage low carbon growth in cities.

The State Transport Corporation (STC), now called Inter-City STC (ISTC), was one of the country’s dependable means of travelling to all parts of the country that afforded comfort and reliability to patrons. It was also the safest means of road transportation.

However, over the past decade, the company was saddled with huge debts, leading to its near collapse.

The situation led to the inability of the company to pay six months’ salaries of workers during that period.

It is, however, heart-warming that President John Mahama has commissioned 50 new buses for the ISTC that will ply both local and international routes

The Daily Graphic is of the view that it is essential to look at additional revenue sources, beyond fares, to sustain this system.

But, more importantly, the management of the company must learn lessons from the past that led to the near collapse of the bus system.

The usual Ghanaian attitude to state ventures that has culminated in the collapse of many state enterprises must give way to a new awakening where state business is handled with all the seriousness and efficiency it deserves.

In all that is done by both the management and the workers of the company, there is the need to bear in mind that it is the job that places food on their tables, hence the need to work selflessly towards ensuring that business thrives and that the future of the company is viable for posterity to also benefit.

Also, measures must be put in place, such that the safety and security while travelling on these buses will be guaranteed, and that means that the crop of drivers that the company engages must be top-notch professionals who have safety and security as top priority considerations.

It is also our hope and expectation that a stringent maintenance regime will be put in place towards ensuring that the buses last long and do not experience frequent breakdowns that will interfere with the reliability of service provision.

The ISTC, if well managed, will provide a viable and convenient option in our public transport arrangements and ensure that commuting to every part of the country comes at an affordable rate and with a pleasurable experience.

Anything less than that will mean that another tranche of scarce resources from the national kitty has gone down the drain and just remind us of the way the Omnibus Services Authority (OSA) and the Inter-City Service were mismanaged.