Transport fares soar in C’River as electric buses await deployment - The Guardian Nigeria News
Cross River State workers, parents and students are groaning under rising transport fares as schools resume for the 2025/2026 academic session, months after the state government acquired electric buses that are yet to be deployed.
The buses, procured by the Bassey Otu administration under its mass transit scheme to cushion the effects of fuel subsidy removal, are still parked at the premises of the state-owned Construction and Fabrication Academy of West Africa along Murtala Mohammed Highway, Calabar.
The delay came amid rising fares across Calabar South, Calabar Municipality, Akpabuyo, Bakassi and other local councils.
Checks by The Guardian showed that by 6:30 a.m. yesterday at Atimbo Road junction, schoolchildren and parents were scrambling for tricycles, with fares rising to as much as N800 per trip from N600 before the resumption of schools.
A petty trader and mother of three in Federal Housing Estate, Mrs Eme Bassey, said she now spends more than N2,400 daily transporting her two children to school. “Government said they bought buses to help us, but we have not seen any,” she said.
At the University of Calabar main gate, a 300-level student, Mary John, said many students were now trekking long distances as mini-buses operating between 8 Miles and the university charge between N800 and N1,000.
Commercial drivers attributed the fare increases to the high cost of petrol, which they said was selling for more than N1,400 per litre in Calabar, as well as rising spare-parts costs.
Transportation analysts said the situation reflected a gap between policy and implementation, warning that the delay in deploying the buses was worsening the financial burden on households.
They said some families were now spending more than 40 per cent of their daily income on transportation, with the situation also contributing to school absenteeism in public schools in Bakassi, Akpabuyo and Calabar South.
Reacting, the state Commissioner for Transport, Ekpenyong Cobham, assured residents that the buses would soon be deployed and would help reduce transport costs.
“If you understand where Cross River State is coming from, you will understand that this administration cannot afford to jump into hasty actions which could possibly lead to resultant errors. When somebody has gone beyond conceptual planning to the level of procurement, that shows determination. This is deliberate,” Cobham said.
He disclosed that the government had adopted a Public-Private Partnership model for managing the buses and was at the stage of signing agreements with the preferred bidder.
“There are three actors in this play: the digital managers of the revenue stream, the operators and managers of the infrastructure, and then the government. Government has provided this infrastructure as its own counterpart contribution,” he said.
Cobham said charging infrastructure was being installed, with components already delivered to the fabrication centre and mobile charging stations ordered for deployment when required.
He added that two Cross River indigenes had undergone three months of training in China to handle maintenance and train other personnel.
According to him, the buses would not be restricted to intra-city routes in Calabar but would also operate on inter-local government routes, with the potential to reduce transportation costs and, consequently, food prices.
“Absolutely, the cost of transportation will fall drastically because the cost of operation is not comparable to fossil fuel. That’s why we chose electric,” he said, dismissing concerns that the buses would be unable to operate in waterlogged areas.
The commissioner assured residents that the buses, which were wholly procured with state funds and are not part of the Federal Government’s CNG bus programme, would be deployed under a sustainable arrangement to ease the transportation burden on Cross Riverians.
