Electric buses crash transport cost for Nigerian students

The introduction of electric buses for intra-campus rides at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), South-west Nigeria, has reduced transport costs by 100 per cent for students.

On 16 December last year, Nigerian entrepreneur Henry Eke and his business partner Itunuoluwa Okusami presented 10 electric 14-seater buses to UNILAG Vice-Chancellor Folasade Ogunsola to ease transportation within the university.

About two months later, PREMIUM TIMES asked the university students what their experience had been with the deployment of electric buses.

The students who spoke with this newspaper confirmed that they now pay N100 per ride instead of the N200 they used to pay for the regular taxis on campus.

The regular taxis still charge N200, but many students are now rushing for the electric buses.

Dayo Daniels, the president of the science faculty students’ association at UNILAG, said the fare reduction has brought some economic relief to the students and that their services have been smooth.

“Since they started it, they have been working smoothly, without any challenge,” he said of the deployment of the buses.

“There was a price hike by the normal campus shuttle. I think they moved it from N150 to N200. (But) The electric buses are collecting N100 from the gate to inside the campus,” Okanlawon Abayomi, a final year law student at the university, told PREMIUM TIMES, Tuesday.

Mr Abayomi said the electric buses are new, clean, and comfortable.

“It is also good for the environment since they don’t emit carbon dioxide,” he added.

A postgraduate law student who did not want her name mentioned in the report said she had once entered one of the electric buses.

“It was comfortable. It is clean. The seats are not shaky, so you don’t feel as if you are going to fall off.

“The charged N100, while other vehicles charged N200,” she said.

Complaint

“The only issue I have is that sometimes you have to wait for a long time before they come around because there are only 10 of them,” said the post-graduate law student.

The final-year law student, Mr Abayomi, spoke of the same challenge. “We need more buses. Most of the time, there is always a long queue of students,” he said.

PREMIUM TIMES took up the students’ complaint with Mr Eke, the managing director of Ogata Global Resources, the company running the bus services. He said his company was bringing in 10 additional buses to the university.

“After these 10 buses we are set to distribute, there is another 10 that we have paid for,” he said.

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“They (UNILAG) have got the support infrastructure for our buses to operate optimally. Thanks to the available charging station that is there,” he added.

Mr Eke disclosed that the batteries in some of the electric buses do not last long, but they have concluded an arrangement to bring in the ones that will last longer.

He said the company was preparing an online automated system for the students to purchase tickets easily and in bulk.

“When we have supplied enough buses to UNILAG, we shall extend our operations to other institutions in the country,” he said.