TheCable

Akinwunmi Ambode, Lagos state governor, has said the first set of 5,000 commercial buses under the ‘bus reform initiative’ will be flagged off within the next six months.

Ambode disclosed this on Thursday when students of Harvard Kennedy School of Government, US, paid him a courtesy visit at the Lagos House in Ikeja.

The governor said his administration was working round the clock to revolutionalise the transportation system in the state and improve the way 23 million Lagosians commute daily.

He said an integrated transportation system was key to growing the economy of the state.

According to a statement by Habib Aruna, chief press secretary, Ambode said the 5,000 new buses would be the first step by his administration to change the existing transportation system predominantly driven by the yellow buses, popularly known as Danfo.

“In the last one year, we have decided that we must integrate rail, road water and air transportation systems in such a way that the system of connectivity is improved upon and I would like to have a direct partnership on how that can actually be actualised,” he said.

“Right now we are cleaning out all the yellow buses you see in the state.

“As we proceed in the next six months and a span of three years, we are introducing 5000 new buses of European standard to actually clean up the city because if you want to grow the economy of Lagos, transportation is key and then it’s a major infrastructure for tourism itself.”

The governor noted that the dependence on road transportation in the last two decades has given rise to a chaotic system where “about eight million Lagosians commute across the state every minute.

“The question is how do you move 23 million people on a daily basis from point A to point B with ease and comfort?” Ambode asked.

“So the way the city has been so designed in the last few years, the city has actually concentrated on only one mode of transportation, which is road transportation.

“There has not been any comprehensive planning to integrate all the modes of transportation in a way that makes it easy.

“There are eight million people walking on the streets of Lagos every minute, did we create more points for them.

“The answer is no. We have one-fifth of the State on water, are we doing effective water transportation, the answer is no.

“The rail system is still under construction in such a way that it can move mass number of people from one point to another. That is why we have a whole lot of congestion on the road.”