The Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU) says it is not disturbed about the introduction of the government’s Electric Buses set to compete with them.
The government-led EV buses are set to reduce the cost of transportation as charged by the GPRTU by about 40% to 50%.
The initiative stems from Dr. Bawumia’s agenda to adopt a cleaner means of transportation in the wake of climate change and also reduce the cost of transportation across the country.
Despite the very low-cost feature of the EV transport, the largest competitor, GPRTU says they are unfazed by fears within the section of the public that this development will significantly impact their businesses.
While some people believe GPRTU customers will migrate to the EV buses due to the affordability and comfort, the Union believes otherwise.
Public Relations Officer (PRO)of GPRTU, Abbas Moro Ibrahim in an interview with The High Street Journal justified that “trotro” has become the preferred choice for many commuters and hence even a cheaper option cannot cause them to change.
“The announcement of the Electric Cars going to charge less than what we take will not disrupt any of our business,” Abbas Moro indicated.
He further explained that “some people were born with a silver spoon in their mouth. There are some people who have never sat in trotro. If not Uber, they pick a taxi. There are some people who have never in even sat in a taxi before, they have been using trotro throughout. It is the same thing. If the electric bus is displayed and trotro is displayed. Trotro is taking 1 Cedi, Electric Bus is taking 50 pesewas. There are people who will join the Electric Bus and pay the 50pesewas and there are people who will join the trotro and pay 1 cedi. It has nothing affecting our business.”
The PRO also noted that he believes GPRTU has served their passengers well and hence they will keep faith with them. He justifies that in difficult times when drivers agitated for fare increment, the Union stood with the passengers. Moreover, there are many deplorable roads that ordinarily they won’t ply but for the sake of passengers, they ply those roads.
These, Abbas Moro maintains are enough reasons to be convinced that irrespective of the cheaper charges of the EV buses, the businesses of the GPRTU won’t be affected.
“We have established with the passengers. Even in difficult times, we are with them. You remember just a few weeks back, some of our transport operators called for a transport fare increment, we stood firm and said they should exercise patience and let’s move forward small. We are in serious business with them. Even roads which are in a very deplorable situation, we have been working there. The passengers are aware of it,” he emphasized.
