Disregard purported increment in transport fares – GPRTU

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has called on Ghanaians to disregard the announced increment in transport fares from Wednesday, September 21, 2022.

A joined statement by the Concerned Drivers Association and the True Drivers Union on Wednesday announced that in consultation with the GPRTU, they have decided to increase transport fares by 30% due to the incessant hikes in fuel prices among many other factors.

However, Public Relations Officer of the GPRTU, Godfred Abulbire, who spoke to Mx24 News said the driver unions did not go through the proper channels to arrive at the decision.

He said the proper channels involves a market survey to assess the other factors which are contributors to a demand for an increase in transport fares.

They include the price of lubricants, spare parts, operational cost and fuel prices.

After the survey, Mr Abulbire said the report is not submitted “to the Ministry of Transport where a meeting will be convened and we’ll do due diligence of the report and then we will arrive at a particular margin we can adjust our fares.”

He accused the driver unions of creating fear and panic among persons who patronize their services.

“Looking at the current situation in Ghana now, no commercial driver will choose that fares should be increased. They will rather be pushing for fuel prices to come down, it’s a big problem,” he added.

He is therefore urging Ghanaians to disregard the statement.

“For them to even say that they have given timelines and they have given a particular margin, we think that is not proper,” Godfred Abulbire stated.