Discordant tunes trail Lagos BRT

Kunle Awosiyan and Adewunmi Adeoye and Dayo Ayeyemi, Lagos - 18.03.2008

Discordant tunes have trailed the Bus Rapid Transit scheme inaugurated by the Lagos State governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

While most commuters and transport workers had argued that the system would congest the vehicular traffic situation on the road, the state government said that it would decongest it.

Some of the road users who spoke to the Nigerian Tribune said the BRT dedicated lane had narrowed the space for commercial buses and cars thereby creating heavy traffic on the highways.

However, during the inauguration of the scheme, the state governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, said that the initiative would alleviate the sufferings of the commuting public, describing it as the actualisation of a dream.

“Anyone who wants to be delivered from the pain of a bad tooth must be prepared to go through the agony of a tooth extraction. It appears that a lot of people have forgotten that the BRT scheme from Mile 12 to CMS is in itself introduced to solve the perennial and intransigent traffic congestion on Ikorodu Road among other objectives,” he said.