Bolgatanga, Oct 5, GNA - Management of the Metro Mass Transport (MMT) has launched "Operation Show Your Ticket" to ensure that all passengers pay the right fare for travelling on the buses. Under the system passengers are expected to get their tickets before boarding the buses and failure to do so would attract sanctions including paying 15 times the fare or in default face the full rigours of the law.

The Regional Manager of MMT in charge of Upper East Region, Mr. Stephen Abukari, said this in Bolgatanga where his outfit launched the programme.

Passengers at the stations where MMT operates were sensitized including all the nine districts in the Region.

He appealed to passengers to insist on their tickets to avoid being embarrassed and also help ensure that all their colleague passengers pay their fare and collect their tickets.

Mr Abukari said it had been observed that most passengers smuggled their way into the buses without paying while some bus conductors took passengers' fare and refused to issue tickets to them. He said all those nefarious practices were affecting the smooth running of the company and that management needed more money to be able to maintain the buses to serve the public effectively. He said the company had put in place stringent measures to check malpractices in the company which include summary dismissal of workers who would want to cheat the company.

As part of the sensitization programme, the Regional Manager including his team from Accra visited political heads in the region including the Regional Minister and District Chief executives as well as the Paramount Chief of Bolgatanga, Naba Martin Abilba 111. On the state of buses in the region, the Regional Manager said the region had 34 MMT buses.

He said the buses were not adequate and that the region was expecting additional 10 buses before the end of the year. Mr Abukari said one of the major problems the company faced was the bad nature of the roads in the region citing the Bolgatanga- Tumu road as an example.