By Awa DK Conteh
The president of The Gambia Transport Union (GTU), Mr Omar Ceesay has highlighted to Gambia Daily the numerous challenges the commercial driving fraternity is facing, which in turn are affecting satisfactory service delivery to the public.
Among these, he said are lack of enough designated commercial car parks. “Lack of garages has resulted in numerous challenges including, lack of monitoring and control of drivers and illegal increase of transport fares by some drivers”.
He went on: “Car parks are very important in the socio-economic development of the country including ensuring the security of the country”.
On the means of preventing the frequent road accidents, the GTU President urged the government to improve the safety of both passengers and vehicles by installing standard speed bumps at strategic locations across the country, create designated picking and alighting points along the highways, as well as designated crossing points for pedestrians.
On the purported impending transport fare increment, Mr Ceesay reminded that the Union’s agreement with the government in 2021 about fare increment, was that if fuel prices go up to 20%, they would increase the transport fare.
The objective of the agreement, he said was to facilitate the smooth movement of people and goods in the country and beyond.
He noted that in March 2021 his union went for a nationwide tour to look at the general transport system and they came up with several recommendations that they presented to the authorities. This, he said include means of regulating the system. “After the nationwide familiarisation tour aimed at getting first hand information from members about the challenges affecting them, the Union strongly urged The Gambia Police Force (GPF) to strictly stick to official checkpoints.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transport, Works and Infrastructure has issued a press release indicating that transport tariff has not changed, that current fare regime remains and that drivers must not unilaterally increase fares.