Commercial Drivers Complain of Loses Due to Traffic Congestion

Christmas period is the season where commercial activities go higher with high financial returns, but commercial drivers have rather seen a different twist to events.

Some commercial drivers in the Accra Metropolis said they have lost out some huge sums of money during this festive period because of the heavy traffic in town.

In an interview with the GNA, some drivers said it had been a disappointing year for them as they were hoping to cash in during this festive season where a lot of celebrants were ready to go out and spend some cash.

But according to the drivers GNA spoke to, eventhough they expected traffic in town within this period, this year’s situation had taken them by surprise on account of its heaviness.

Moro Abdul Isaka, a commercial driver who commutes from Nima to Madina said he had been spending more than usual on fuel alone because he is always stuck in traffic.

“Before Christmas, I could use GHC150 of fuel the whole day but now I have to be topping up at least GHC60.00 everyday, because of the traffic in town. I can’t even go the normal trips I go in the day’” a frustrated Isaka said.

Another driver, Ahmed Yakubu who commutes from Nima to the Tema station said that eventhough there were a lot of people in town, the cars could not pick them as fast as they should because they all go and get stuck in the traffic for hours.

“From Nima to Tema station shouldn’t take us even 30 minutes, but because of the traffic especially in the early mornings and in the evenings, we spend too much time on the road. So you realise that a lot of people queue up at the station waiting for cars. And it is not as if there are no cars, but because all the cars are not able to get back on time,” he said.

Kwaku Osei Agekum, a commercial driver who commutes on the Circle-Kasoa road said that the traffic situation on their route had been terrible, making them lose out heavily.

“We have lost a great deal of money this Christmas. This is largely due to the traffic especially from the Mallam road. I was stuck in traffic for on Friday for close to 3 hours and you know how much fuel I wasted without doing any work. At the end of the day you buy fuel, waste it but don’t do any work. I could move at least 14 times a day but it has reduced to 8 since the Christmas,” he lamented.

All the drivers however didn’t seem to have a clue as to how the situation could be controlled. But according to them they wished the Christmas passed for them to resume their normal business.

Source: GNA