…“To comfortably accommodate disabled persons.
by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
The Plateau State Government has acquired buses with the capacity of 43-seaters, 44 standing, with a space for a wheelchair. The buses are made in such a way that they can accommodate persons living with disabilities.
Speaking to newsmen, while on inspection of the buses at old Government House Jos, the General Manager, Plateau Express Services Limited, Mr. Samuel Jot Gwott, said that the Digitized Tin City Metro Buses were ready for service.
According to him, the only challenge was that there were areas that have been congested, and emphasized the need for traders to partner with government in clearing the routes, in order to allow the buses move freely.
He explained that the Digitized Service allowed for each tab for every destination (whether far or near) to be charged at N200 only, using an Access Card that can be purchased at a minimum rate of N1,000 per card.
He narrated that, the accessibility of the cards will be down-to-earth, as much as possible, using the card to ensure safety and for control purposes, and to also guarantee that revenue comes in.
According to him, the buses will ply 8 routes within Jos, which are Angul-D to Vom route, Polo Round-About to Zawang Round-About, Terminus to Zawang Round-About, British-American to JUTH, Terminus through Rayfield, Yelwa Junction, Terminus through Tudun Wada, Low-cost Round-About to Wild Life Park, Terminus through Bauchi Road to Farin-Gada and British-American through Angwan Rukuba to Farin-Gada and back.
He assured that the limited numbers of buses will serve for the time being, pending additions by Governor Mutfwang. Gwott added that there will be bus stops and bus shelters, in order to make life easy for the people of Plateau State.
He expressed gratitude to Governor Caleb Mutfwang for providing the buses to help ameliorate the rate of sufferings of the masses.
Secretary to the Plateau State Government, Arch. Samuel Nanchang Jatau, while on inspection tour of the Terminus, said Government desires is to decongest the major bus routes around the Terminus area (which are currently being occupied by traders), in order to make way for the commencement of operations of the newly-acquired Tin City Metro Buses.
He was also speaking at Terminus, while addressing traders at the market, adding that, the purpose of the on-the-spot-assessment was to interact with the traders and intimate them on the plans of Government to clear the roads in preparation of the commencement of the operation of the Tin City Metro Buses.
The SGS noted that, “As you can see, we are here for Governor of Plateau State, Barrister Caleb Mannaseh Mutfwang. The talk-and-do governor has constituted a committee, headed by my humble self, to midwife the actualization of the start-up of the Tin City Metro – that’s the Tin City Metro Bus Service – the buses that were newly acquired from Germany to help reduce the hardship.”
He noted that, “We are aware that government is very conscious of the fact that there is much hardship, and one of the critical sectors where people are suffering is the transportation sector; but we have a few issues, which we need to sort out: one of which is why we are here today, because you can see how congested the Terminus area is.
“So, we need to clear it out because these buses are huge and our roads in some cases are a bit narrow. So, we need to able to get for them turning circumference, parking spaces and so on and so forth.
“That’s why we’re here to see how we can partner with the traders to relocate them down here, where we’re standing, from where we moved so that they can also be comfortable doing their business as a temporary measure.
“So, this is going to be a temporary measure, because government intends in the coming months and years ahead to begin to build markets in neighbourhoods around town,” he stressed.
He said, “The markets will opened-up around town and so there will not be over-concentration of traders in one spot, which is also a security risk itself, adding that, so those are the issues that we are looking at and that is why we are here today to partner with them.
“You can see that they are contributing in the discussion and they are also proffering solutions because this government is a listening government; this government is the people’s government, and that is why we are doing it together with everybody and that’s why we’re here today.
He assured the people that, Plateau Jos City Center will be cleared in partnership with the people, and anybody that will resist that move will taste what government can do, saying that, “Amadu Bello Way will be cleared, the road from Terminus Round About to Tafawa Balewa will be cleared, Bauchi Road to Yantaya will be cleared.”
He advised traders, who are doing business along these routes, to see alternative places of business because government intends to bring sanity to the town.