GPRTU Justifies Decision Against Transport Fare Reduction

Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) has defended its decision against the reduction of transport fares following the reduction in fuel prices in the current price window.

In an interview on Opemsuo radio’s Nkwantananso Show, the spokesperson of the Union, Abbas Imoro said the rate of reduction does not tally with the rate of increases that drivers conceived while fuel prices were skyrocketing.

According to him, fuel prices have increased by 243% since January, however, the Union increased fares by 54%.

“We researched and found that from May 2020 to November 2022, fuel prices have increased by 473% whereas we increased transport fares by just 67%. The guideline is that whenever fuel is increased by 10%, transport fares must be adjusted too but we did not implement that for the increases.

“Not all the increases were passed down to the passengers and accumulated in this huge loss for drivers. From January 2022 to November 2022, fuel prices have increased by 243% and we have increased fares by 54%.”

By that, he indicated that reducing transport fares will plunge drivers into losses.

He added that fares will be reduced if fuel prices reduce to GHC10 per litre.

On October 26, the Union announced a 19% increment in transport fares when diesel and petrol were selling for over GHC15 and GHC13.

In less than a week when petrol price increased to GHc18 and Diesel to GHc23, the fares were increased yet again.

The prices of fuel remained there until the end of November.

Petrol currently sells at over GHc15 whereas diesel sells for a little over GHc18 and passengers are calling for a reduction in fares.

Source: opemsuo.com/Hajara Fuseini