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By Umar Adam Sokoto
The Sokoto State Transport Services Authority (SSTA), says it has remains resolute toward the changing fortunes of Mass transportation to ensuring safety and comfort of passengers as its top most priorities.
Alhaji Mode Yawa Shagari,
Special Adviser to the Sokoto state governor on Transport Authority said transportation sector continued to remained critical means and a major contributing factor for the rapid development of any society.
Shagari said the SSTA inherited seven mass transit buses from the immediate state government and with the new development the Governor Aliyu led administration provided them with brand new vehicles having a total of 60 buses operating in various routes.
“We have engages experts in some states of our services that are assisting us in monitoring situations and we’re on alerts to evacuates our passengers in case of any eventuality that may cause the vehicle develop sudden faults”. He noted.
He assured passengers that nacessary efforts have been considered to prevent security challenges and other eventualities toward ensuring passengers safety and comfortability on transit to their respective distinctions.
However, noted that the sector suffers serious neglect in the state despite its significant contribution to the development of all strata of human endeveour.
The State Government has finally and graciously presented the vehicles purchased for the mass transport Services and has since commences local and inter-states services.
Mass transit programme has receive a feats and has becomes a reality despite many unlookers and detractors within and outside the state who have vowed to sabotage the effort through circulating fake and several insunuation regarding the programme.
Noting that some people seized opportunity as a result of the delayed of the vehicles to commence operations and circulating rumours saying that the vehicles were borrowed or purchased on loan bases and the vehicles owners retrieved them because the state government fail to settle the loans.
“Now, the truth has finally emerges, the state government deliberately withheld the vehicles to enabled our technical team finished settings of devices and technological development that were employ worldwide are deployed on the vehicles.”
“So, the technology that have been inplanted locally on the vehicles had took long period of time which causes delayed in the commencement of their operations.”
“The vehicles were installed with new modern security facilities such as trackers, speed limits as they were providing services with cards as you reload and charge your cards, the vehicle will then open automatically and you get access into the vehicle and the amount of money being paid will automatically drop into government account”,
These are some of the measures that the state Governor being a modern person thought we should implement to ease our work and to ensure affective collection of revenue.
The intention of the state government is to provide affordable and comfortable subsidized transport facilities that can sustains itself, thus by the time the vehicles getting older, the mass transit authority would have sufficient funds to purchase brand new vehicles .
The buses are state of the art projects, 2023 model ,Toyota Hiace buses Japan, fully air-conditioned some of them are fully automated.
This is a great achievement and effort of the state government and really commendable.
On our parts, we will strictly followed the laid down rules by the state mass transit authority to ensure that we have comfort of the passengers and as well as generate revenue for the state government as the intention was not just for revenue generations but to make transport affordable.
With these new buses online , the authority maintains and charges the same rates as we charge in the old buses, as you are going to Kaduna from Sokoto the charge is N7000 only and the passenger will go fully air conditioned.
Our taxis vehicle scheduled to operates within Sokoto metropolis and prices is N200 only per drop.
Already, the authority have routes the vehicles whereby a buses will be followed by a Camry Toyota Saloon car which is only dedicated to females while the bus is allow to carry both male and female all vehicles charges the same, no increase in passengers and no increase in transport fares .
We are now having 50 number of 15 seater buses and 20 number of Camry Hoyota vehicles specially for mass transits operations not for charter services in Sokoto.
We are using the vehicles strictly for people going to hospitals and other businesses not for festival and occasion.
The vehicles have started operation successfully and so far so good as the vehicles have start operating and conveying passengers from Sokoto to Abuja to Kaduna, Jos, Minna and Kano States respectively.
While pledged to revive other routes that were abandoned , this includes Sokoto-Bauchi- Gombe and other states that links there entire North East zone after Sallah festive buses will be assign to operate along that routes.
On assumption , the new SSTA management inherited seven vehicles that are motorable from the previous administration and immediately increased the number to ten vehicles.
Our mandate with these new vehicles is to ensure that in the next six month we are able to buy a brand new six vehicles with the money we will collect from the services of these vehicles.
The idea is that in the near future, there will be no need for SSTA to request to the state to buy any vehicles for it as the SSTA has sufficient funds to make an additional purchased of the new brand vehicles for operational uses.
Advised the general public to look at the vehicles as their owned and make judicious uses of the vehicles.
“People should make sure they collect N200 receipt as special committee will were assign to monitor the movement of the operational vehicle and they will embark on stop and check and any body found without receipt would ask to drop from the vehicles.”
“People to know that the vehicles are there own so if they sustain the system the authority will be able to buy new vehicles as its for the benefits of all.”