LAGOS TO ADD 400 BUSES TO THE BRT FLEET

No fewer than 400 mass transit buses will soon be added to the Bus Rapid Transport scheme to further ease transport challenges in Lagos State, says the Commissioner for Transportation, Mr. Kayode Opeifa.
The commissioner added that the 400 buses would be added to the 154 currently running in the existing BRT corridors in the state.

Opeifa spoke on Tuesday during the annual ministerial press briefing, adding that the BRT buses currently moved about 180,000 people daily.
He added that when fully expanded, about 400,000 people would be transported daily by the buses.
Opeifa said, “In 2007, we inherited the BRT system. We completed the construction of Africa’s first BRT lite corridor, which is today one of the world’s most affordable BRT system on the Mile 12 – CMS through Ikorodu Road, Funsho Williams Avenue and Eko Bridge, measuring a total of 22 kilometres.
“We have extended the corridor to Ikorodu town by an additional 13.5km. We are set to inject about 400 buses to the 154 buses currently running in the scheme.
“On the existing corridor, we move about 180, 000 on a daily basis and when fully expanded, we hope to move about 400,000 people daily on the average.
“We recently injected 100 air-conditioned buses and hope to increase the air-conditioned buses to 250 before the end of 2015.”
The commissioner said about 289,371 erring vehicles were impounded by the Lagos State Government in the last four years.
A breakdown of the figure showed that 81, 694 vehicles were impounded by the Lagos Vehicle Inspection Service, while 207,677 vehicles were impounded by the Lagos State Traffic Management Authority.
He said the government had been able to reduce death from 192 per year to maximum of six per year.
“We have saved about 465 lives from October 2012 till date. We have also prevented an average of 476 okada-related injuries monthly and 5,712 yearly. By implication, we have prevented a total of 14,220 okada-related accidents since 2012”, he said.
He noted that motor vehicle-related accidents had also reduced since 2012.