Increase in road travel causes delays, frustration for commuters

Travellers to other parts of the country, particularly Kumasi and Tamale, have had to cope with long delays at lorry stations due to the unavailability of vehicles to transport them to their destinations.

The situation has been attributed to the cancellation of all domestic flights, an alternative means of travelling, due to bad weather conditions, a development which has coincided with the reopening of schools.

Transport operators are challenged to meet the high demand of commuters, which has created a shortage of vehicles at the transport terminals.

Checks by the Daily Graphic at some transport terminals in Accra indicated long queues of passengers, including foreigners, waiting patiently for their turn to buy tickets to board vehicles.

At the VIP Terminal at the Kwame Nkrumah Circle, there was a snake-like queue of passengers eagerly waiting for their turn to purchase tickets.

Both the arrival and departure halls of the yard were filled to capacity. 

The main yard where vehicles are parked also had long queues of passengers, most of whom were students struggling to catch buses for school.

Parents who had come to the terminal to see their children off to school looked frustrated.

A parent, Mr Eric Mantey, told the Daily Graphic that it had been close to three hours since he and his daughter arrived at the station and still there was no indication that they would get a vehicle soon. 

“We arrived here some few minutes past 1 p.m. and we are still here waiting for a vehicle. The place is choked but we hope to get a vehicle before 5 p.m.,” he said.

Looking all frustrated and tired, a student of the St Monica’s Senior High School, Priscilla Owusu, told the Daily Graphic that she would return home if she did not get a vehicle in time.

Her reason was simple: “I am afraid of travelling at night.”

Students given priority

However, at the Intercity State Transport Company (STC) Terminal, activities went on peacefully, as there was no sign of congestion at the yard.

Very few passengers were spotted at the departure hall waiting for their turn to board buses.

On how the company had been able to keep calm at the yard, the Greater Accra Regional Manager of the STC, Mr Kofi Tei, said most of its customers who were students were given priority when they travelled as part of its students’ service system.

To that effect, he said students of Archbishop Porter Girls’ School in Takoradi and Holy Child School and Wesley Girls’ High School, both in Cape Coast, had already been transported to their schools, easing the pressure in the yard.

At the Neoplan Station, however, scores of people were found jumping into vehicles, especially those travelling to Kumasi, Takoradi, and Tamale.

Asked how business was going on, due to the cancellation of flights, Nana Osei, a bus driver told the Daily Graphic that the decision to cancel domestic flights had inured to their favour as more and more people thronged the station every day to board buses to their destinations.