Increase in transport fares inevitable – GPRTU

The Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU) says it is working out new fares to correspond with prices drivers pay for fuel.

The National Petroleum Authority (NPA) last week, as per its fortnight review of global prices, increased by 7 per cent petroleum prices in the country, raising outcry by transport operators.

According to these operators, the NPA failed to consult them in the latest review, forcing them to transfer the "burden" on passengers.

“The blame should be placed at the doorstep of the National Petroleum Authority,” said Robert Sarbah, the Greater Accra Region Chairman of the Union. “They decided to relegate transport operators to the background.”

Mr. Sarbah says increment in transport fares is long overdue since the Union’s members have been restrained from doing so each time there is an increase in fuel prices in the past.

“There is a limit to human endurance,” he remarked. “We have delayed in ensuring that the drivers are treated fairly in terms of the fuel that they buy.”

“The transport fare increment is inevitable and passengers will not escape from the increment this time around,” he stated.

The last increase in transport fares was on January 27. 2014. Fares were increased by 10 per cent.