A 20% increase in fares

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union, the private cartel that fixes fares for all forms of public transport in Ghana, has decided to increase transport fares by 20 percent with effect from Friday, 15th of May 1998.

Making the announcement on Tuesday 12 May, the Union, in characteristic Ghanaian parlance said "The announcement is to give enough notice to the public to be aware of the increase". The statement went on, "the new fare was arrived at this afternoon after the GPRTU had taken recognition of he price hike of inputs such as vehicle spare parts, lubricants and the 200 percent increase of the third party insurance premium".

According to the secretary-general of the union, Mr Ankomah, the increase in fares is also due to the fact that apart from fuel costs, everything else in relation to the transport business is indexed in the US dollar.