Like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Dorcas Egede who visited some motor parks across Lagos reports that transporters are in search of travellers.
Unlike other parks visited, Okeyson Motors seems to have their fair share of passengers. One could easily feel the season. Another park that had this good number of passengers, the reporter was soon to discover was Peace Mass Transit. Mr Christopher said business is going on smoothly and people are travelling. He, however, admitted that they haven’t reached the peak period. They would start to record more travellers when schools vacate. He said the sign that many people will travel this season is already there. Asked what the sign is, he said, “People are already sending their luggage to the village.” This, to him, is an indicator that many people will travel this season.
Sunquick Motors Manager
“Everywhere is dry as you can see. This regime has brought us nothing but suffering.” Asked if it is possible that the dryness is occasioned by the fact that schools are yet to go on vacation, he agreed that things would actually change “towards 15th, 16th and 17th” when schools go on vacation.
Beginning from about five years ago, he confessed that transporters have recorded a reduced number of people travelling. He says he doesn’t know whether to attribute it to the economy or to other personal reasons.
However, he says, people are sending their luggage home, as the price will surely have shot up before they are prepared to travel towards Christmas. “People are already sending their luggage to be way billed because when they want to travel with their luggage, they may have to pay more for it.
Peace Mass Transit Manager, Chinedu Odoh
“This year is bad. Nothing is moving like we expected. As you can see, people are not travelling like before. Like in 2015, we normally loaded up to 40 buses (per day) but now we load like eight, nine, or 10 daily. I’m not even talking about season, normal day, and Abuja alone can be up to 19 buses. Then, when it’s season, we load up to 60.” He said this number may be higher, depending on how many buses are sent to Lagos from Enugu.
Is it possible that business will get better by the time school vacates? His response was in the affirmative. “People must travel,” he said.
Constant Link Ventures
The reporter spoke to a staff that identified herself as Oge. She believes that it’s too early to tell how good or bad business will be. “We cannot tell for now, because it is not yet certain. When we will know is when school closes from Thursday/Friday. When schools close we will actually know if people are actually travelling or not, but for now we cannot just tell. People are however sending their things to the village. Like on Sunday, we did waybill throughout and carried few passengers. Some people do their waybill so that nothing concerns them with travelling again; some do theirs so that when they are ready to go, they will go freely.”
The amount of waybill received may be able to tell to what extent people will travel this year, the reporter inquired. “Yes. But, what I’m suspecting about the way they are doing now is, one of my friends came to waybill a bag of rice, two Ghana must go bags, standing fan and some other things. When I asked her if she’s not travelling that’s why she’s sending all these things, she said she wanted to send all those things to her people because she’s not travelling. She sent it last week to avoid the rush and now that the fare is still cheap. All the waybills that we are getting, some don’t want to travel, so they want to send something to their people.
Oge however said that there are those who send their luggage ahead of them in order to travel light. Pointing to a man sitting in the opposite direction, she said, “Like that man, he came last week and way billed rice and two Ghana must go. I was surprised to see him this morning saying he wants to travel now.”
Elite shuttle Limited
Asking the reporter if she’s new in the country, the man who refused to give his name or even speak with the reporter, said, “This regime is worse. Everybody is affected. Every business is affected. This regime and the other regime are not the same. Everybody is crying. People always travel; some for burials, some for weddings. But people are not travelling because they just want to travel, they are travelling because they can’t help it, it is something they must do. Some people don’t have money, but they are travelling.”
God is Good Motors
The initial response of the manager, Mr. Richard to whether people are travelling more this year than in previous years was, “How do I answer this one na? This is JAMB question.” After a moment’s hesitation, however, he said, “Those days parks will be filled up, but it’s not so today. People still travel. By next week, 14-16, you will see people who didn’t have intention to travel jumping into the bus.”
Do you have cases where people waybill things to their loved ones in the village instead of travelling? His response was, “See, let me tell you something, people answer for themselves, you can choose not to travel. But if people have their money, nothing stops them from travelling. Some people waybill because they don’t want to carry luggage. They waybill and still travel light; it depends on their choice. You can waybill and travel or waybill and choose not to travel.”
Anambra Executive, Manager, Mr Miracle Nwafada
His sombre response to the question of how business is this season compared to previous ones, was “My sister, this year, no work.” Nwafada who said he’s grateful for life, said, “My dear, this year is the worst, but thank God for life. We don’t know about next year, but this year is bad.” He, however, expressed hope that things may get better beginning from next week when schools vacate.
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