By Allieu Sahid Tunkara
On a cloudy Wednesday morning, amidst a sign of an impending torrential downpour, a group of commuters are chasing a moving vehicle. The white mini bus had just arrived at the Wellington Lorry Park and it’s slowing down to a halt.
The scramble for a seat in public transport vehicles is a familiar sight across Freetown, where shortage of means of transportation has exacerbated the experience of many Sierra Leoneans already anguished by a perennial economic hardship.
Among the commuters at the Wellington Lorry Park were two women determined to board the vehicle against all odds. They don’t give up the chase, until they get into the vehicle.
Seconds later, other commuters followed suit.
As the vehicle finally stopped, the entrance was already overcrowded. While the few passengers already inside searched for comfortable seating positions, others, some with bruises and some with torn clothes, quarreled.
Meanwhile, outside, the conductor (Apprentice) had blocked the rushing passengers so that he could select who should get into the vehicle, based on who is ready and willing to pay extra charges.
It has become a norm for commercial transport owners to increase fares anytime there is a sudden rise in demand, like during unusual weather conditions or during festivities.
Based on an understanding between the government and the union representing drivers, the official charge for a ride from Wellington to Eastern Police is Le1, 500. But today, the conductor is demanding for Le 3,000.
Those who could afford boarded and those who couldn’t were left to wait for the next vehicle. The struggle continues.
One of the passengers on board on the white mini bus, Ishmail Bangura, a student of Milton Margai College of Education and Technology, laments the state of public transportation. He said he is almost always late for classes, thanks to the exploitative behavior of commercial drivers.
“Drivers take undue advantage on commuters by asking for fares higher than the generally accepted one. If you can’t afford it, you have to wait for another vehicle,” he said.
“This is a worrying situation,” he added.
Fatty Kamara, another commuter, dreads Mondays, which she said are the hardest to catch a ride and the favorite days for drivers inclined to display wickedness to commuters by increasing fares.
“Imagine how painful it is for drivers to ask us to pay a two-way transport fare from Wellington to Texaco,” she said.
Fatty, who teaches at the Roman Catholic primary School at Texaco area in the east end of Freetown, said she sometimes spends up to an hour before she can get a ride to school.
“Most times I arrive at school late,” she said, lamenting the effect of this on her class pupils.
Ms Kamara’s only source of consolation is the fact that the issue is out of her control.
Exploitation in the transport sector is widespread particularly among drivers plying the East-end of Freetown. No one is spared in this dubious and exploitative trade. And the low income earners are the hardest-hit.
The ever congested Waterloo Park at Bombay Street is another notorious flashpoint for this exploitation of passengers.
Vehicles at this park are meant to convey passengers from there to Waterloo. Instead they take in passengers who alight at short distances, like Up- Gun, Shell, Wellington, Calaba town and other areas, a practice known as ‘Halfway’.
The craftiness applied by the conductor is to block the entrance of the vehicle and asking passengers about their destinations. Those who are headed for longer distance are left standing, and their numbers keep swelling, so that when a vehicle going their direction comes, it’s another round of chaos, like the one at the Wellington Lorry Park scene.
Women are most times at the receiving end of this dastardly behavior of commercial drivers as they mostly engage in business between Waterloo and Freetown. In this situation, they are also left at the mercy of thieves and pickpockets, especially at late hours of the day.
Isatu Kanu travels from Waterloo to Freetown almost every day on a business transaction purchasing assorted goods for retail. She said she is always worried whenever she is to embark on the journey.
“They (drivers) make us spend the rest of the day with our luggage on the streets as they pay attention to passengers who drop half way,” she explained.
According to Isatu, the only time it’s easier to get vehicle without a major hustle is when you leave your home at dusk.
“We are women and thieves are always after us to either snatch our bags or steal goods. Hardly a day goes by without the cry of theft in this city,” she said.
For the drivers, this is all a survival tactic.
Alpha Kamara, the driver of the white mini bus, which plies the Wellington - East End Police route, said constant heavy traffic means that they spend long time on a single leg journey.
“It is difficult to make fast money in such situations,” he said.
After the day’s business, Kamara explained, he has to surrender most of what he earns to the vehicle owner.
Another reason why drivers have to make more money regardless of the method is to take care of exploitative traffic police officers, say drivers.
“The only way to supplement our income is by charging extra money on passengers,” added Kamara.
The Motor Drivers and General Transport Workers Union (MDGTW) says it disapproves of this behavior of its members and that it has been warning them against it.
MDGTW is an interest-based organization that seeks the welfare of drivers. One of its officials, Alpha Turay, admitted the mistreatment of commuters by drivers. He singled out drivers who ply the Waterloo route as notorious perpetrators of this act.
“I have witnessed a situation where a Waterloo driver demanded Le5,000 from a lady as transport fare from Bombay Lorry Park to Waterloo. The lady could not afford it and the driver drove away,” Turay, who is the Chief Driver at the Texaco Lorry Pack, an affiliate of the Union, recalled.
But the elderly unionist added that commuters too contribute to the situation as sometimes they voluntarily offer to pay double fares to get a ride.
“They also worsen the situation,” he said.
He however added that that cannot be an excuse for the drivers.
“The Union will continue to warn them until one day government sees reason to come in,” he said.
The Sierra Leone Police say the relevant traffic rules forbids the practice of drivers asking for double fares or stopping half way.
Divisional Traffic Officer, Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) Reuben Thompson, whose mandate extends from Kissy community to Wellington, said the police are empowered by law to arrest and prosecute such drivers who carry passengers half way or demand excess transport fare from them.
“Carrying passengers half way is a crime punishable by law,” Thompson told Politico.
He added that the police are not everywhere at all the time and therefore are bond to find it hard to prevent drivers from committing the act.
ASP Thompson said the only way out is through sensitization of the people to report to the police drivers who violate the rules.
He cited a recent incident in which two passengers made a report against two different drivers with evidence of demanding excess transport fares. The two drivers were charged to court and subsequently fined after been found guilty, he said.
“As long as a report could be substantiated by the police, we will prosecute a driver found wanted,” Thomson assured.
© 2019 Politico Online
