As FCT urban mass transit system collapses, commuters groan under difficult conditions

MOVING around the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has become increasingly nightmarish for commuters because of the collapse of the territory’s mass urban transit system. 

Residents now have to struggle and fight to displace other commuters in order to stand the chance of getting a space in the few commercially available vehicles to get to their places of business or back.

Most of those who have one thing or the other to do in the metropolis reside in the satellite towns such as Gwagwalada, Nyanya-Marara axis, Kuje, Karshi, the Kubwa-Zuba axis, the Bwari axis of the city, among others. 

In 1984, the then Ministry of FCT now Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA), established the Abuja Bus Service (ABS). 

Years later, the company was registered as Abuja Urban Mass Transport Company Limited (AUMTCO), under the Companies and Allied Matters Act 1990. 

The company was designed to provide safest, most reliable scheduled and bus hire services in Nigeria, adding value and comfort to the citizens. 

AUMTCO was also charged with the responsibility of implementing the government’s vision of affordable urban public transportation and managing transport service delivery across the FCT. At that time, the largest bus transportation company in Nigeria, with staff strength of 518 staff members, AUMTCO took off with funds totalling over N1.3 billion, which were to be used for the procurement of over 500 high-capacity buses for designated routes in the FCT. 

But today, the presence of the company is not felt by residents of the city as most of the bus stops of the transport company have been abandoned due to the unavailability of buses. 

In 2013, the FCTA banned the minibuses popularly known as ‘Araba’, from operating in the city centre in preparation to launch a world-class urban system of transportation after accusing the minibuses of causing traffic jams and other nuisance in the city. 

By 2014, the administration headed by the then minister, Senator Bala Mohammed, launched over 100 high-capacity buses to add up to the already available buses known as the el-Rufai buses that were running the satellite town routes. 

While launching the buses, the former vice president of Nigeria, Mohammed Namadi Sambo, said “These new buses would go a long way in alleviating the transportation problems of the residents of FCT, especially the majority of workers living in the satellite towns.” 

Bala Mohammed stated that the administration would not relent in its efforts to build and administer a capital city in compliance with the Abuja Master Plan, “through the establishment of an effective and enduring service-oriented administration that can respond to the needs and aspirations of all residents and stakeholders.” 

However, eight years down the line, most of the high-capacity buses have disappeared on all the routes to satellite towns even within the city centres. Nigerian Tribune investigation reveals that most of the buses are parked at FCTA yard along Kubwa road and some at the Karu yard. 

A transport expert, Nath Atume, affirmed to the Nigerian Tribune that the lack of proper planning and maintenance caused the breakdown of most of the high-capacity buses in Abuja. 

As the buses continue to be unavailable without an alternative means of transportation, residents of the FCT have lamented that commuters in and within the city have to depend majorly on private car owners for their means of transportation. 

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Nigerian Tribune findings further reveal that in some areas, residents would have to wait for over an hour or more before accessing a means of transportation to work. 

Speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, a resident of Kurudu whose office is in Garki, Area 3, Sunday Agbo said “getting a vehicle to convey me to town during rush hour is a struggle. 

“You have to struggle for a seat once a vehicle arrives at this junction (Army barracks phase 2 junction) or you may end up going to work very late,” he stated. 

The situation is not different from that of Jikwoyi and Nyanya as Nigerian Tribune witnessed commuters rushing to vehicles on arrival in order to secure seats. 

Joy Attah told the Nigerian Tribune that “how fast one gets a vehicle here depends on many things. If there is a hold up on the road, many car owners would decide to wait till the tariff jam reduces. That means commuters will have to wait for a long time. 

“Sometimes, if few car owners are stopping to pick people, it will also be a challenge as the population of commuters would keep swelling up with few vehicles available and everyone desiring to get to work early. We just have to go through this vehicle struggling and fighting experience every working day.” 

She lamented that “you know there is no public transportation system here in the capital city, there are taxis but they are not enough. So, we have to depend on private vehicle owners who work in town to take us to work and bring us back home.” 

In Lugbe, the situation is the same as in the Kubwa areas. All over the FCT, residents depend largely on private vehicle owners. 

Residents blame lack of maintenance of the government buses for their disappearance from the roads with ordinary commuters now paying the hard price. 

However, speaking on the matter, the AUMTCO stated that the high cost of diesel is what affects the operation of the company. 

The Head of Marketing and Communications, Tunde Akintola told the Nigerian Tribune that for some trips, the company spends over N17,000 buying diesel at the rate of N850 and will get less than 10,000 as income in the end. 

“Even though the company is not for profit, the cost of operations is not commensurate with the revenue that is coming in. So, we have decided to operate in the mornings and evenings,” he stated. 

Although Akintola maintained that 80 per cent of the buses are workable, he regretted that the high cost of operations has made them (the buses) inoperative. 

With the public mass transit buses nowhere to be found and no immediate plan to revive them, the FCT residents are poised to continue their daily struggle to move around for some time to come.