When drivers take advantage of the rainy season

It’s a fact of Lagos: when it rains, transportation fares go up. At least for passengers boarding danfo(commercial) buses. Once it rains, most passengers are stuck at the bus stops. Like a flock of sheep they flock around when they sight an oncoming bus, only to run back into shelter when the drivers do not look their way. However, when the buses eventually stop, some still have to wait a little longer due to the hike in cost of transportation.

Area boy factor

Bolaji Dada, a danfo driver explained that area boys do not understand that when it rains, business is dull for transporters.

“I stopped for some passengers at Berger bus stop,” he says. “One agbero boy (tout) said I should pay for loading. Since I did not pick any passenger, I refused, and he yanked off my wiper. It rained all through the day. There was no way I could have gone to the mechanic to replace the wiper. I had to manage the bus like that. All these extra expenses and stress are some of the reasons for increase in transport fare.”

Another driver, Bamidele Rufai said that bad roads and poor drainage also contribute to the hike in transport fares.

“Once it rains, I prefer to park my bus than to go and get stuck in the hold-up (traffic jam),” he said. “Everywhere will be flooded. You see a lot of cars break down along the way, and they cause hold-ups. You end up wasting a lot of time and spending more money on fuel. Some roads are so bad that it is better not to go that way once it rains.”

One man’s meat

However, Deji Sule and his friends said they looked forward to the rainy season. Mr. Sule lives at Mowe, very close to a wide ditch that cars and buses fall into because it is covered by flood whenever it rains. They earn money by helping drivers pull their vehicles out of the ditch.

“I make over N1,500 when it rains all through the day,” he says.

Opportunity knocks

Passengers, however, complained that most bus drivers are exploiters who looked for any opportunity to increase transport fares.

“The other day I was in a bus, and it was as if I was in the rain,” says Yemisi Oguntolu, a commuter. “The bus was leaking on top. When we complained, the driver just turned the volume of his radio to the maximum and he did as if he did not hear us.”

Bus drivers denied that they are exploiters.

A driver, Tunde said: “It is the agbero and area boys that cause it, o! Once it rains, they increase the money they collect from us, and we have to make up for the money by passing it down to our passengers.”