The state Commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Dayo Mobereola, said this in an interview shortly before the inauguration of the upgraded BRT lane in Ikorodu.
“The project will benefit all the people of Lagos not just the people of Ikorodu alone. It is everybody in the state that will take the BRT buses. The first pilot scheme was from Mile 12 to CMS. And that section from inception to date has carried almost 350 million passengers.
“And this one, on daily basis, will carry almost 450,000 passengers. It is meant to showcase that the way to go is to create a public transportation that will move the people en masse. A city with 22 million people needs efficient, reliable, accessible and safe transportation system. This is just an example of what we planned for Lagos State.”
The Mile 12-Ikorodu BRT extension was a N30bn project supervised by the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority, which also involved the provision of complementary BRT infrastructure.
The corridor covers a distance of about 13.5km, with a median of 2m width and the BRT was designed as a median running with bilateral bus station configurations linked to bridges for pedestrian access.
The expanded lane called BRT Classic was opened on Thursday by the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode, with a former Lagos State Governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, as a special guest.
Interestingly, Tinubu was the initiator of the BRT scheme and was actualised by his successor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.
Mobereola was upbeat about the upgraded lane improving not only the transportation system along the route but the traffic situation.
He said, “It will improve the traffic situation along that corridor. As more people enter the BRT buses, the road will be freer; we are also doing the engineering on the road, especially at the junctions to increase the capacity of the road and make the way big enough to accommodate more traffic.
“The mobility of the people will be enhanced but priority will be given to public transport, which is a mass carrier for a lot of people.”
He also said the BRT buses including the new 450 vehicles just added to those operating along the corridor were owned by some private firms running them as part of the Public Private Partnership arrangement for the sustenance of the scheme.
“The buses are not LAMATA’s and not for Lagos State Government either. It is a PPP arrangement. The state government provided the infrastructure while the buses are run by the private operators. They are running the buses in line with the guidelines from LAMATA,” said the commissioner.
Tinubu had said at the inauguration that the BRT scheme had become a reference point even by the World Bank being recommended to other nations confronting mass transit challenges.
He recalled that the project was initiated as a result of the determination of his government to find a lasting solution to the mass transit problems in Lagos.
He commended his successor, Fashola, for continuing the project and making Lagos a model city.
Ambode, after inaugurating the BRT extension project and new buses for the corridor, also expressed optimism that the project would bring comfort and convenience to commuters in the state.
He said the BRT system, which was initiated as part of the strategies to modernise the public transport system, had lived up to expectation since the launch of the pilot system in March 2008 along the Mile 12 – CMS corridor.
The governor said the development was another demonstration of his administration’s commitment to effectively address the issue of traffic congestion and improve public transportation in the state.
“The strategic transport master plan is a 30-year plan that will deliver to us a truly world-class integrated public transport system with six rail lines, one mono-rail, 14 BRT corridors, three cable car corridors and 26 developed water routes,” Ambode said.
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