Not a few Nigerians could recall that popular song ‘Suffering and smiling’ by the late Afrobeat legend, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, lamenting the agony of Lagos commuters as they move from one point to another in overloaded rickety buses. That was over two decades ago.
Fela sang about 49 passengers sitting and 99 others standing in a bus that was probably meant for less than 100 passengers. He might have exaggerated, but the truth was that public transportation in Lagos was and probably still is chaotic and less than befitting the status of Lagos as an emerging mega city. It is driving some residents of the city state crazy, even as the Lagos State Government continues to make commuting easier, better and more comfortable for the over 20 million inhabitants of Nigeria’s centre of excellence.
Patrick Omele is one of those fed up with the traffic gridlock that often grips Lagos for hours unending, and is considering relocating away from the emerging mega city.
Last week was his happiest day and he shocked his friends when he threw a party in celebration of his transfer from Lagos to Benin, the Edo State capital. He was simply happy to leave.
“None of them could understand me when I told them of the stress I go through getting to my office and coming back home daily,” he said; adding, “I had to wake up 4.30 am everyday and leave my Ikotun-Egbe home for office at Lekki, by 5.00am, or latest 5.30am daily, yet I wouldn’t get to Lekki until 8.00am.
“If that was bearable, returning was usually hell. There was never a time I got back home earlier than 11.30pm, most of the time I ate dinner in the bus, as I wouldn’t be able to eat anything by the time I got home, I sleep about 12 midnight, invariably having not more than four hours of sleep daily. This was already taking its toll on my health and I was already considering resignation, when I got my transfer letter.”
For Patrick, the greatest immediate impact of his transfer would be in the area of his health, and he had his employer to thank for giving him another opportunity.
If he was that lucky to get a breather, so many workers living and sharing similar experience had no choice but to continue to cope.
One of such people was Mrs. Agnes Akpodonor, who shared same seat with this correspondent on Oshodi-Agege route of the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). Agnes, a mother of three, works as a marketer for a company at Ajah, after Lagos Island and goes to the office, from Matogun, an Ogun State community, one of the several, that shared same border with Lagos. “The earliest I get home daily is 11.00pm, leaving office 5.00pm,” she said.
She doesn’t get to Oshodi till 8.00 or 9.00pm from where she connects the BRT to Agege. From Agege she would still take another bus to Ishaga, before she would board another to Matogun, where she lives. She would get home only to sleep as she has to wake up at 4.00am to prepare breakfast and break time food for her three children.
By 5.00 am, she is already on the road, to beat traffic as she must resume at the office by 8.00am. Her schedule unlike Patrick includes Saturdays and her Sundays, she spends virtually in the church, moving from one meeting to the other after service, till evening.
“My brother, I have been living like this since 2005, at times, I ask myself how I’ve been coping, but what would I do? Would I stop work to become a house wife? I have God to thank for still keeping me alive despite the stress. I board BRT all the time, because it affords me an opportunity to sleep. Its not easy, but life goes on,” she said.
Living practically on the road has been part of the experience of many a resident of the state. A respondent told how she had lost a vital contract for her firm because of the mad traffic within the metropolis. It is usual in this part to build the traffic hiatus into one’s daily plan before setting out from home, such that you might have to leave your house by 7:00am to shuttle from the mainland to the Island in order to catch a 10am appointment.
But that has not always been the case in Africa’s megacity and the world’s third fastest growing city after Tokyo and Bombay, in India.
Up until the 1900s, Lagos Island, which covers a mere 1.55 sq. miles, was a rather small piece of land that provides accommodation for 65.4 per cent of the population that lived there then.
The situation was not helped by the lack of adequate transport facilities which would have encouraged people to live on the mainland and shuttle to the island daily for business.
For those living on the swampy Island, boats therefore became the means of transportation. The situation however changed with the commissioning of the Carter Bridge in 1901, which for the first time connected the mainland to the Island, thus encouraging the use of motor vehicles, the new status symbol of the era.
The pressure shifted from canoe, which conveyed commuters on the waterways, to road, the new mode of transportation, promoted by the Europeans and the growing elite, which used it as a means of commuting.
As a result of the pressure on Carter Bridge, due to the share number of automobiles, and the need to deepen the infrastructure base of the city, which operated as the nation’s federal capital, fresh constructions were embarked upon, with the taking off of Eko bridge, which opened in 1975, and the Third Mainland bridge, which was inaugurated in 1991, by then President General Ibrahim Babangida.
The third Mainland bridge was again borne out of the need to resolve the growing challenge of managing the vehicular traffic, occasioned by the rush by residents to purchase their vehicles due to the oil boom and the emergence of the nation’s rich middle class as road transport gained primacy as the most important means of transport in Lagos for its immediacy.
In the beginning
Prior to the formal establishment of commercial road transport services however, Lagosians could ride on the Lagos Steam Tramway which ran from 1902 to 1913.
In 1895 the Lagos Government Railway began to force its way from Iddo, on the mainland to Ibadan and was opened six years later on March 4, 1901. Carter Bridge was completed the same year, construction having commenced in 1896, to connect Lagos Island with the mainland.
The tramway was informed by the erroneous termination of the railway at Iddo. Lagos, the administrative capital and the only seaport of the Colony of Nigeria, was without any public (or indeed, at that time,wheeled) transport to connect it with the railhead.
That this had been in the minds of the administration is evidenced by mention of a tramway in the Colonial Report for 1899. By 1901, it decided to build a 2ft.-6in gauge line over Carter Bridge and construction began. The opening of the Lagos Steam Tramway took place on May 23, 1902.
The original line ran north-west along the waterfront, from a point near Government House and the European residential area around the Race course, to Customs Wharf, where it turned north-east towards Ereko Market and Idumota. A 95ft. radius curve took the line north-westwards again, through Ebute Ero and over Carter bridge to the railway station at Iddo.
In spite of the success of the improved services and after much track laying and a deficit of £248 in 1913, the government took a very short-sighted view and decided to close down the passenger service, principally because the original rolling stock needed renewal. The closure which signaled the first neglect of the train service was effected on January 1, 1914, but not until 1933 did Lagos lose the service of the tram service completely, with the closure of the sanitary Tramway, built in 1906.
What the railway lost in patronage became gains for the road transport and by the time the Federal Government moved the federal capital away from Lagos to Abuja in 1992, road transport has supplanted all other modes as answer to passengers and goods mobility across the metropolis.
The absence of an early intervention by the government in developing a mass transportation policy, informed the emergence of private owners who provided mammy wagon fleets locally known as Bolekaja (come down let’s fight), which mushroomed and provided the essential mass transit service, all through to the early 70s.
With Bolekaja off the road, came the Molue, which covered a large swathe of the city, and very popular for its cheap, and reliable operations. The ubiquitous Molue gained notoriety for the manner it packed commuters and for providing itinerant hawkers an avenue to ply their trades.
Perhaps a more defined measure by the government to seize the mass transit space was in the second republic when the government of Alhaji Lateef Jakande established the Lagos Metropolitan Transport Service, (LMTS), which took the first bold attempt to develop the road and water modes of transportation, while similar attempt was made to initiate the light rail. An ambitious Metroline was initiated but was abandoned when the military took power in 1984.
Successive governments since then have tried to initiate a mass transit blueprint that would address the growing intractable transportation sector whose growth remains dominated by the unorganised private sector. But each attempt had been met with limited successes as the vehicles in no time were often run down.
Perhaps government’s most successful efforts at solving the intractable transport problem was initiated by the administration of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2003 when it approached the World Bank for assistance for the development of a transportation master plan for Lagos mega city. The World Bank intervention gave birth to the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, a special purpose vehicle to drive the new initiative, which was to develop the infrastructure backbone, which was the dedicated lanes for the buses, and to procure and manage the buses, unlike the case in the past.
The LAMATA initiative ultimately gave birth to Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme, the first phase of which was flagged off by Governor Babatunde Fashola on March 24, 2008. It goes from Mile 12 to CMS through the Funso Williams Avenue (formerly Western Avenue).
The service being run by two operators: the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) Cooperative and LAGBUS, an Asset Management Company owned by the Lagos State government thus began a new initiative to frontally address the transportation menace in the state.
The agency also provided 26-bus shelters along the Mile 12-CMS route; three bus terminals are also placed along the corridor (at Mile 12, Moshalashi and CMS), with the bus terminal at CMS designed to integrate with transport modes of rail and ferry services. Since its launch five years ago, more than 100 million passengers have commuted in it.
Before the coming of BRT, Lagos recorded an average of 224 vehicles per kilometre contrary to the national average put at 30 vehicles per kilometre. Research further showed that over three million cars, 100, 000 commercial vehicles and over two million commercial motorcycles move on the over 900 road network in the state daily.
The concentration of movement on the roads which runs contrary to what obtains in other cities of the world which depend on more than one mode of transportation, makes it imperative for government to pursue alternative modes of transportation such as rail and water.
The commitment of the Fashola government to promote these two modes of transportation led to the increase of the water operational routes from one in 2007 to 12 routes. These are the Ikorodu-Marina/CMS; Marina to Mile 2; Ikorodu-Adax/Falomo; Ikorodu- Ebute Ero; Marina-Ijegun Egba-Ebute-Ojo; Mile 2- Marina/CMS-Mekwen-Falomo; Badore-Ijede; and Badore to Five Cowries. Others are; Marina-Oworonsoki; Ebute Ojo-Ijegun Egba; Oworonsoki-Five Cowries and Baiyeku-Langbasa.
With government planning to further expand the routes, there are more investors running the ferry services with the government limiting its intervention to the provision of the basic backbone – jetties.
The plan is to connect the BRT network to these existing ferries for the purposes of moving ferry passengers from the jetties to the terminals in different parts of the metropolis, the ferries would equally be linked to the light rail terminals while the BRT buses will also service the light rail stations and terminals.
Rail service
The Lagos Rail Mass Transit, the first modern rail-based public transport in Sub-Saharan Africa outside of South Africa, is envisioned to consist eventually of seven lines. The railway equipment including electric power, signalling, rolling stock, and fare collection equipment will be provided by the private sector under a Concession Contract, while LAMATA is responsible for policy direction, regulation, and infrastructure for the network.
With the ambitious blue line light rail project which has reached an advanced stage along the Badagry Expressway, government said another one million passengers would be using the blue and the proposed red line light rails when it finally flags off.
Speaking on the public transport activities of the state government, the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr Kayode Opeifa said, the intention of the government is to provide a reliable, safe and affordable means of transportation to residents as part of the dividends of democracy.
He said part of the plans of the government is to completely phase out the use of commercial motorcycles or tricycles as means of transportation in the state, stressing that when its plans fully matures, residents would have the Fashola government to thank for its forward looking plans that sought to put commuters at the centre of its transformation plans for the transport sector.
He said not only would the BRT buses continue to be re-fleeted in line with the desire to provide safer means of commuting for the people, government would also continue to develop new route network as it continues to expand the shuttle service.
He disclosed that other plans aimed at ensuring safer transportation and making public transportation available is the planned resuscitation of the defunct Lagos Mass Transit Service (LMTS), reform of the Lagos mini-bus (danfo) operations; reforming and restructuring the Bus Franchise Scheme (BFS).
“By the time all these are in place, more and more Lagosians would be encouraged to put their vehicles in their homes while they make use of public transport scheme, because we are going to ensure that all alternatives are provided, from buses, to mini buses, to cars/taxis all in an attempt to ensure that you keep that extra car off the road, thereby reducing the green house gasses emissions etc, and improving the health and wellbeing of the people,” Opeifa said.
Cable car
To further address the issue of congestion, he disclosed that the state is also planning to, and has already signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and a franchise agreement with Ropeways Transport Company for the purpose of providing cable car services (Cable propeller transit line) in the state. The project is another public, private partnership initiative of the state government, that would cost it nothing.
The company, Opeifa disclosed, would build the system on two selected corridors which will serve as crucial links to Apapa, Lagos Island, Obalende/Ikoyi and Victoria Island.
The commissioner said government is committed to making the road safer for Lagosians and ensure the security of roads, improve traffic management and control the free flow of traffic anywhere in the state and would continue to improve public transportation with the intention of making it attractive to more commuters.
He said the restriction of the Molue operators from all bridges, especially the total restriction from plying Lagos Island is part of efforts to further deepen public transportation services, even as he assures that with the plan currently in place, public transportation would no longer suffer neglect.
Ferries to the rescue
In spite of the success of the BRT and other road transport service, more and more Lagosians are discovering the new alternative and relieving experience of the Lagos waterways, the third leg of the intermodal options to mass transit being made available by the state government.
Residents, especially those living around Ikorodu and adjoining communities have come to appreciate that plying the waterways through ferries have become an easier way to commute around the coastal metropolis.
A bank executive, Mr. Seyi Thomas, who lives in Odongunyan have since realised the beauty of ferry service, which he has been using in the past seven months to and from his office.
He said: “Until April, I used to get to office late, at times getting to work around 10am, despite leaving home at 4am. Then in May, I decided to try the ferry. I parked my car at their parking lot and bought a ticket for N600. In 20-minutes, we were at Marina and I just took a stroll down to my office. Since then, I’ve been patronising the ferry. I leave home at 6am and get to work by 7.30am. I have stopped agonising over the terrible traffic in which I usually spend six or seven hours before.”
Mr. Thomas is not the only one enjoying the new found bliss of shorter routing time. Mr. Bukola Amusan, who lives in Ikorodu is another, and he almost swore he would never go to Lagos Island by road again. He is a regular face at the Igbogbo jetty, where he boards the ferry and though there are usually a crowd he said, particularly in the morning, the terminal is so comfortable you’ll almost forget your troubles.
“I found the ferry a very good alternative especially now that the Lagos State Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) is expanding the Ikorodu expressway. The ferry is fast and so many people are patronising it,” he said.
To make the ferries safer, the state government has purchased no fewer than 5,000 life jackets it intends to distribute to all ferry operators for the use of their passengers.
Opeifa said the jackets further underscore the commitment of the state government to safety on its waterways and to boost the confidence of passengers who patronise the operators.
He said from 300,000 passengers, the ferry operators now cater for 1.8 million passengers weekly, adding that government will continue to put in place measures to boost the waterways transportation and make it more attractive for investors and passengers. He said more than 20 other new routes are already penciled down and these would be opened as soon as enough capacities are developed along such routes.
Opeifa said only a vibrant waterways and rail system could soak away the pressure on the roads and make the roads last longer than they hitherto are.
He disclosed that when the blue and red light rails being developed around Mile 2 is ready, it would further boost rail transportation and relieve travelling experience within the metropolis.
Before such begins however, the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), has been filling the gaping need for a safe, reliable and affordable means of transportation that the rail exemplified.
At a forum recently, NRC’s Managing Director Mr. Adeseyi Sijuwade said the Corporation is presently running eight shuttles to and from Iddo to Ijoko-Lemode, in Ogun State, daily. Though this according to him translates to 16,000 passengers daily, the mere fact that many passengers still hang or sit on moving trains are signals that the shuttles need to be increased.
Sijuwade, an engineer, said the NRC has placed order for new rolling stock which would be delivered before year end.
He said passengers are going to enjoy more comfort as these locomotives would further boost the mass transit service of the corporation.
An Ijoko resident, Mrs. Omolewa Adamson, said she has been patronising the corporation since her family moved to Ijoko three years ago. “The train would make Oshodi from Ijoko under 40 minutes, and this is what can take three hours or more by road. With N150, you can ride to Iddo, whereas, the same destination by road would cost not less than N500. That is why so many people, especially the youth, artisans and labourers who work at Isale-Eko and other areas prefer to patronise train because it is cheaper,” she said.
Alhassan Jibril, who sells handkerchiefs and sundry items, and lives at Agbado Station, in Ogun State, said the train and molue are his best forms of transportation because of their affordability and opportunity to hawk his trade.
“In the morning I ride in the train to Oshodi and from Oshodi, I follow the Molue round. Until they were banned, I used to follow it to Ebute-Ero, but these days, we merely run from Oshodi to Agege and at times Iyana Ipaja to Sango-Ota,” he said.
