Fuel hike: Taxi drivers, car hire operators lament low patronage

Taxi drivers  in Lagos have lamented low patronage as a result of the economic downturn in the country and the recent increase in the pump price of  fuel. A Lagos taxi driver, Abdul Wasiu Deniji, explained, "Since a taxi is meant for a single journey, a single passenger or group of passengers, a single transport […]

Taxi drivers  in Lagos have lamented low patronage as a result of the economic downturn in the country and the recent increase in the pump price of  fuel.
A Lagos taxi driver, Abdul Wasiu Deniji, explained, "Since a taxi is meant for a single journey, a single passenger or group of passengers, a single transport fare can only be charged  at a time even as we now spend double amount of money on each litre of petrol we use.
"Recently, we have been using our little money to buy fuel only for the customers to turn their  back once you tell them how much you want to collect. They keep saying that they have other options of reaching their destinations, while for us, it’s either we carry them at amount not so favourable to us or waste the expensive fuel we have bought cruising the roads in search of another potential passengers."
Another cab driver, simply identified as Soji, at Yaba Taxi Park, also lamented saying, "Nowadays, we close our days doing nothing since morning and thus unprofitably. It has become difficult for most of us to maintain our cars while it is even more difficult to discharge responsibilities at the home front."
President, Eko Hotel Kuramo Car Hire Association, Chief Lamina Fatoyinbo, said  car hire business was not going as profitably as usual, saying his members are increasingly finding it difficult to survive with their meager earnings from the business.
"Though, things had not been going on well before the fuel price hike, but we have only seen our business going worse immediately the government announced the removal of fuel subsidy. We have children at home but taking care of them is becoming a crisis. Or what do you do when you finish N4,000 fuel without carrying a single passenger," he inquired.
But many Lagosians described taxi patronage as a waste of resources  given the economic down turn in the country’s critical economic state of the Africa’s largest economy, arguing that there was need to apply cost-cutting measures by individuals.
A young man in his early 30s, who preferred to be anonymous, said he was retrenched as a banker just two months earlier only scoffed at the matter.
"When my job was still in my hand I didn’t see taxi as big deal, but not now that I’m like this, where should I get N6,000 for taxi for the same distance that will cost little more than N500 with other commercial buses? One shouldn’t give such an issue any priority now. There are more pressing demands to  attend  to," he said.