The Commissioner of Transportation in Lagos State, Dr. Dayo Mobereola said the State Government is conscientiously working to transforme the transportation system in Lagos through the implementation of the multimodal transport plan.
Dr. Mobereola disclosed this during a courtesy visit to his office at Alausa by motoring journalists on Wednesday.
“We have a vision and the vision is to transform transportation in Lagos State. We are trying to get the people to support our vision and I want to use this platform to say that we need to collaborate, as the job is now bigger for all of us. We need to pass information to the people to make them understand that everyone is involved in making transportation easier for all of us,” the commissioner said.
“We are coming up with better buses, rail and water transport so that people can leave their cars at home to make use of public transport. But of course, we are cognizant of the fact that transport infrastructure are capital intensive and we know the situation of the economy today- there are other areas- education, health and others, but we are trying to make transport a better and stronger case because movement of people in a mega city such as Lagos is very important.”
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He said the State Government is working very hard on its 30-year transport master plan. According to him, the plan include 450 bus network, railway, 24 water transport routes, all linked together in a way that they are easily accessible to residents in various places where they live.
Speaking on the BRT scheme, Dr. Mobereola said the total number of air conditioned BRT buses plying Lagos road is now four hundred and thirty, with plans to acquire more buses before the end of the year.
He said the state government has directed that all public buses become air-conditioned to attract more Lagosian to the public transport grid.
The commissioner explained that having learnt from past experiences, anybody that gets the BRT contract must have adequate spare parts in stock, as well as have the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) engineer on ground to ensure timely maintenance and avoid system breakdown.
“We encourage the contractors to use vehicles that are already in Nigeria, but if they are bringing in new brands that are not in the country, they must come with the spare-parts and the automakers must be on ground,” he said.