TheCable

The Lagos state government has terminated operations of the first BRT cooperative run by the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) from the Mile12 to CMS BRT corridor.

Dayo Mobereola, commissioner for transportation, disclosed this on Thursday, saying the development takes immediate effect.

“The termination of the franchise agreement with the operator is sequel to breaches of the BRT operations Service Level Agreement (SLA) it signed with the state government, despite years of discussions and engagement to ensure SLA was adhered to,” Mobereola said in a statement.

“Though the SLA requires a one-month notice prior to its termination, the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA), custodian of the agreement, had indeed given a three-month notice which the operator failed to honour.”

The commissioner said the government’s decision had been communicated to the operator on Thursday.

Mobereola said the decision was premised on the inability of the operator to offer good public transport services to commuters on the all-important BRT corridor.

According to him, this has led to incessant complaints by members of the public over poor services provided by the operator.

He said the state government was against the non-operation of stipulated frequency schedules and operation of buses below 50 per cent fleet capacity contrary to the agreement.

Mobereola said the breaches which the operator had indulged in and failed to remedy despite being notified prompted the government’s decision.

“The state government on September 29, 2015 served the operator with a notice of termination of the franchise of the agreement,” he said.

“The operator pleaded for time to be able to identify other corridors and remove all its buses from the depot, a commitment it failed to uphold.”

He said the notice of termination of franchise agreement was followed by series of meetings where government maintained its position on the need for the operator to vacate the corridor.