GPRTU: ‘We’ve not increased transport fares’

Public transport fares have not seen an increment, the Ghana Private Roads Transport Union (GPRTU) has said, in response to complaints from some members of the public that some commercial drivers were charging new fares.

In an interview with Accra News’ Naa Atswei Oduro on Thursday March 9, 2016, Robert Sarbah, Deputy National Chairman, GPRTU, said: “Officially, we have not increased transport fares. We are still negotiating with the government; we are not done. We are aware fuel prices have been increased two or more times recently, which is affecting the operations of our members, [especially] those who are drivers. But when that happens, we conduct a market survey taking into consideration the last period of increment and the current prices of spare parts and other components that affect our work. This is in addition to having discussions with the Ministry of Transport.”

He said as part of its consultation with stakeholders prior to the announcement of new fares, it had met on Thursday with the Ministers of Transport and Finance.

“And so the process is ongoing. We have not increased fares yet, we have not sanctioned any increase,” Mr Sarbah added, saying there would “definitely” be a “review” of fares but discussions with government were “not yet conclusive and therefore we are appealing to the drivers to wait till the announcement is out”.

The GPRTU executive advised passengers being charged unapproved fares to report the matter to any GPRTU official to “deal with it”.