Residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), while revealing their happiness over the 70 new High Capacity buses unveiled by the Federal Capital Territory Administration (FCTA) on Friday, urged the Abuja Urban Mass Transit Company (AUMTCO) to “take good care of the buses.”
Some of the resident who spoke to our correspondent at the weekend said the new buses would reduce the difficulty they have been facing because of lack of enough buses.
They said at the backdrop of the ban on the green-painted Abuja buses, there have not been enough means of transportation in the FCT. According to the residents, the High Capacity buses that the FCTA brought to replace the araba buses were very few in number and have not been able to serve the teeming Abuja’s population.
The situation was, however, aggravated by the destruction of 16 of the buses in the first Nyanya blast. Ever since, residents living in the satellite areas have been mostly relying on private cars fo commuting.
Having understood this, the Minister of FCT, Senator Bala Mohammed, promised that the FCTA was going to unveil 100 new buses in no distant future to ease the difficulties faced by the residents.
According to him, the additional buses would help to expand the fleet of AUMTCO in the territory and also improve service delivery.
“We will unveil 100 new BRT buses soon. We understand that they are no longer enough for the residents; by God, they will be enough soon. The new buses will increase AUMTCO fleet in the territory as well as profer better service deliver,” he said.
To exonerate Bala’s words, the Administration unveiled 70 buses out of the 100 promised at the Eagles’ Square on Friday.
However, reacting to the provision of the new buses, resident rue AUMTCO maintenance culture.
Mr. Hussain Musa, a resident of Lugbe, said “maybe the company in charge doesn’t maintain High Capacity buses well. You will see one today in good shape, tomorrow you will see it emitting unhealthy smoke and strange sounds, which is a pointer that it is not well-maintained.”
Similarly, Hamza Paki, a resident of Suleja, said: “I think AUMTCO doesn’t service the buses when due and that makes them rickety and bad immediately. The company needs to stop doing that. It is never buying a car that is the problem, but can you maintain it?”
But Mr. Rufus Brimah, a staff of NIPOST, was of a contrary view, saying that drivers of the buses are the culprits in the buses’ poor maintenance.
He said the drivers drive recklessly despite the fact that they were given speed limit, causing troubles on the roads and damaging the buses.
“To me, it is the drivers that are problematic. They drive recklessly because the size of the buses give them advantage. To me, it is never servicing that is the problem, but the drivers,” he said.
However, Brimah tasked the AUMTCO to “call the drivers into order.”
In the same vein, Mr. Markus Iyona, who lives in Zuba, said “I wouldn’t blame anybody but the transport company, AUMTCO. They should know the drivers they employ, and after employing the, they should be carefully watched to driver the buses carefully and return them for repair when due. If the buses are bad, it is AUMTCO, at least they are the people in charge and should take responsibility.”
While unveiling the buses, the Managing Director of the company, Mr. Abdulrazak Oniyangi, said the company would do every thing possible to keep them in tact as well as ensure good service delivery.
He also tasked the drivers to always keep to the rules of the company by driving within speed limit and not to cause problems on the road. Oniyangi further disclosed that the remaining 30 buses were yet to be cleared at the Lagos Sea Port, saying that they will be inaugurated this week.
“The remaining 30 buses will be inaugurated next week (this week). We promised 100, all are now in the country but 30 of them have not been cleared at Lagos Sea Port. We do that as soon as we could do and have them inaugurated,” he said.