The Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority has said yellow buses, popularly known as Danfo, remain central to the state’s transport system despite ongoing reforms.
LAMATA Managing Director, Abimbola Akinajo, stated this while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise programme on Saturday.
She said, “It is not about throwing away what exists.
“We work with the yellow buses because if you do not interact with them, you cannot speak of regulation; they are the ones who carry the majority of people in Lagos.”
Akinajo explained that the Bus Industry Transition Programme was designed to integrate informal operators into the state’s formal transport structure.
“It is a vision to bring the formal and the informal together.
“We understand what they want. They know what we want,” she said.
Highlighting the impact of the collaboration, the LAMATA boss noted that transport unions were now directly involved in state-run services.
“Today, the unions are working with us in Lagos. They are running one of our BRT routes, and they are quite successful at it because these are people who have run transportation in Lagos for years,” she said.
According to her, the partnership with the National Union of Road Transport Workers and its affiliates is beginning to yield results.
“What Lagos is constantly doing is working with them, ensuring that we begin to expose them to what it means to be a regulated service, and they are understanding that, and we’re starting to see some levels of dividends,” Akinajo added.
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